Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/furtherindiaOOclif 



FURTHER INDIA 



THE STORY OF EXPLORATION 

Further India 

BEING 

THE STORY OF EXPLORATION FROM THE 

EARLIEST TIMES IN BURMA, MALAYA 

SIAM AND INDO-CHINA 



BY 

HUGH CLIFFORD, C.M.G. 

AUTHOR OF 

IN COURT AND KAMPONG," "STUDIES IN BROWN HUMANITY, 

" BUSHWACKING," "A FREE-LANCE OF TO-DAY," ETC. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS 

AND MAPS 

AND WITH MAP IN COLOURS 
BY J. G. BARTHOLOMEW 



NEW YORK 
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



.C 4,3 



OCT 24 1904 



copyright, I go 4, 
By Frederick A. Stokes Company 



Published in September, 1904 



TO 

D E M S 

THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED 

IN MEMORY OF 

THE DAYS DURING WHICH 

IT WAS WRITTEN 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

L Chryse the Golden and the Chersonesus 

AUREA I 

II. The Medieval Wanderers 24 

III. The Coming of the Filibusters .... 45 

IV. The Explorations of the Portuguese . . 74 
V. The East India Companies, and After . 10 1 

VI. Francis Garnier, the Man 129 

Vll. The Problem of the Khmer Civilisation . 145 

VIII. From Pnom Penh to Ubon 167 

IX. Ubon to Luang Prabang — Mouhot and 

Other Explorers 191 

X. The Shan States and Yun-nan . . . . 220 

XI. Journeys of Exploration in Burma . . . 255 
XII. Further Exploration of Siam, French Indo- 

China and the Malay Peninsula . . 299 
XIII. Chryse the Golden as It Stands Revealed 

To-day 331 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

A General view from Mandalay Hill . . Frontispiece 
Part of the World, according to Pomponius 

Mela Facing page 4 

Part of the World, according to Ptolemy . '^ 6 
Ptolemy's Further India, as interpreted in 

the Fifteenth Century " 10 

The World, according to Edrisi .... " 22 

The World, according to Masudi .... " 22 

Marco Polo " 24 

Odoric " 34 

Alfonso Dalboquerque " 54 

Malay Peninsula, by Waldsiemuller. Strass- 

burg Ptolemy, 15 13 " 56 

Malacca, in the Sixteenth Century ... " 60 

J. Huyghen van Linschoten " 104 

Linschoten's map, 1599 " 106 

Further India. From Blaew's Atlas, 1663 . " 108 
Further India. From Danville's Map of 

Asia, 1755 " 114 

Francis Garnier . " 130 

Further India, 1840. From Lizar's Edin- 
burgh Map " 132 

y 



vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Doudart de Lagree Facing page 142 

Western Front of Ankor Wat " 144 

Plan of Temple of Ankor Wat " 146 

Sculpture at Ankor Wat, Kambodia ... '' 148 

Ravine near the Mekong " 174 

The Mekong at HsinTuKu^ " 178 

Alexandre Henri Mouhot " 192 

Prairies on the Mekong " 240 

On the Irawadi River, in the First Defile . " 260 

The Bazaar at Bhamo " 262 

Plain south of Bhamo " 268 

Second Defile of the Irawadi River ... " 272 

Colonel Sir H. Yule, K.C.S.I., C.B. . . " 274 

Forest Scenery, Burma '* 276 

Burman Family Group " 280 

Augustus R. Margary " 292 

Captain William Gill, R. E " 294 

Edward Colborne Baber " 294 

Lao Town, Muang-Nan " 298 

Bangkok " 302 

River Scene, Bangkok " 306 

On the Mon River " 310 

Auguste Pavie " 312 

The Great Rapid. Red River, Lukay to 

Manhao " 316 

Village Road, Anam ** 318 

Kachin Village " 320 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Vll 



View of the River from Belida, Kechau, 

Pahang Facing page ^26 

On the Tenasserim River " 328 

Forest in Anam '* 338 

Valley of the Upper Donnai " 342 

Saigon. From Saloun's L'Indo-Chine . . " 344 

Map in colours, by J. G. Bartholomew, at end oj Volume 



FURTHER INDIA 

CHAPTER I 

CHRYSE THE GOLDEN AND THE CHERSONESUS AUREA 



I 



"^HE great peninsula which forms the south- 
eastern corner of the Asiatic continent, com- 
prising, as we know it to-day, Burma, Siam, 
French Indo-China and the Malay Peninsula, will be 
found, in comparison with other regions of the East, to 
have suffered at the hands of Europeans from a wholly 
unmerited neglect. Latterly, it is true, the Powers of the 
West have been busy here, as in other quarters of the 
world ; but in spite of their new-born political impor- 
tance only a languid interest has, for the most part, 
been excited in the countries themselves and in the 
problems to which their affairs have given rise. The 
failure of the lands of southeastern Asia to make a 
strong appeal to the imagination of the peoples of Europe 
is to be ascribed, however, not to their intrinsic unimpor- 
tance, nor yet to any lack of wealth, of beauty, of charm, 
or of the interest that springs from a mysterious and 
mighty past. The reason is to be sought solely in the 
mere accident of their geographical position. Lying as 
they do midway upon the great sea-route which leads 

I 



2 FURTHER INDIA 

from India to China, it has been the fate of these coun- 
tries to be overshadowed from the beginning by the 
immensity and the surpassing fascination of their mighty 
neighbours. Thus, even when India and Cathay had 
emerged at last from the nebulous haze of myth, super- 
stition and conjecture with which the imaginations of 
Europeans had early enshrouded them, southeastern 
Asia continued to be wrapped in obscurity, such knowl- 
edge of it as was possessed being practically confined to 
a bare acquaintance with its coast-lines, with a few ports 
of call, and with the seas traversed by ships in their pas- 
sage from the shores of Malabar to the southern provinces 
of China. Similarly, in our own time, while every 
schoolboy can point out Canton or Peking, Delhi or 
Peshwur, as a matter of course, not one educated man in 
fifty can put his finger unhesitatingly upon the spot on 
the map which represents Chieng Tong or Bhamo, 
Pahang or Pnom-Penh. The real exploration of this 
region, beyond the limits of a narrow zone of coast- 
lands, was not accomplished until during the latter half 
of the nineteenth century, while the work done in this 
direction by Francis Garnier and a host of smaller men is 
even less known in these islands than are the localities in 
which their labours were performed. 

It is not easy to realise to how late a period in their 
history the Greeks remained in almost total ignorance of 
the Eastern world, or indeed of any inhabited lands lying 
at a distance from the seaboard of the Mediterranean. It 
was not until the invasion of Xerxes forced the fact upon 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 3 

their attention in uncompromising wise that they com- 
pletely grasped the proximity of Persia. Hecataeus of 
Miletus, who wrote between 520 and 500 b. c, is the 
first of the ancients to make mention of India and the 
Indus by name, and Megasthenes, who was in the service 
of the Syrian King, Seleucus Nicanor, during the third 
century b. c, was the earliest writer to extend the west- 
ern acquaintance with the East to the banks of the 
Ganges. He traversed the great peninsula from the 
Indus to the former river by means of what he describes 
as " the royal road " — probably the first of the grand 
trunk-roads of India — crossed successively the Sutlej and 
the Jumna, and descended the Ganges to Palibothra, a 
town at the mouth of the Sone which was the capital of 
a king called Sandracottus (Chandra-gupta). He brought 
back with him much detailed information concerning the 
country, its people and its products, and he speaks of 
cinnamon and other spices as being imported from the 
southern parts of India, which may possibly be an indi- 
cation of the existence, even in his time, of the spice-trade 
of the Malayan Archipelago. 

It was not, however, until after the beginning of our 
era that the first, faintest hint reached Europe concern- 
ing the existence of lands lying to the east of the 
Ganges. It is found in the writings of Pomponius Mela, 
whose date can be fixed from internal evidence at a. d. 
43, which make mention of a headland named Tabis, 
described by the author as the most easterly extremity 
of Asia, and of another, apparently further to the south, 
called Tamus. Off the latter lay Chryse, or the Golden 



4 FURTHER INDIA 

Isle, while Argyre, the Isle of Silver, was opposite to the 
mouth of the Ganges. Pomponius Mela places the land 
of the Seres — the name by which the inhabitants of 
northern China were known — south of Tabis and be- 
tween that headland and India. These statements, 
though they represent nothing more than a vague grop- 
ing after the truth, are interesting because they mark the 
dawn of a perception that beyond the Ganges there lay 
further to the east certain inhabited lands, and because 
they show that in Pomponius Mela's time the Seres were 
recognised as occupying country at the extreme east of the 
Asiatic continent. Concerning Chryse itself Pomponius 
Mela, it is probable, entertained no very definite ideas, 
but his mention of the mythical isle indicates that a new 
geographical conception had come into being. Hence- 
forth the Ganges was no longer to be regarded as the 
eastern limit of the habitable world. The map of the 
earth according to Pomponius Mela, here reproduced 
from Mr. E. H. Bunbury's admirable History of Ancient 
Geography, shows the distorted character of his notions 
concerning the configuration of the seas and continents • 
but in the insignificant island of Chryse, there seen lying 
off the promontory of Tamus, we must recognise the 
earliest attempt ever made by a European to locate the 
lands of southeastern Asia. 

It was about this time, as we learn from the works of 
Pliny the Elder and from that of the anonymous author 
of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, both of which be- 
long to the latter half of the first century, that a great 
revolution was worked in Asiatic navigation. Pliny tells 




Part of the World according to Pomponius Mela 

From Bunbury's "History of Ancient Geography" 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 5 

US that the southwest monsoon was called the Hippalus, 
and the author of the Periplus explains that "a pilot 
named Hippalus was the first, who, from observing the 
position of the ports, and the configuration of the sea, 
discovered the mode of sailing right across the open sea ; 
from which the name of Hippalus is given to the local 
wind which blows steadily from the southwest, in the 
Indian seas." 

The voyage of Hippalus, whose example had been so 
generally followed in the time of Pliny that the journey 
to and from India was then regularly made by many 
ships every year, marks an epoch in the story of naviga- 
tion. Up to this time the seamen of western Asia and 
of Europe had not ventured out of sight of land, and the 
length of their voyages had been determined by the con- 
volutions of the coast-lines which they skirted. The man 
who, first of all his kind, had the hardihood to face the 
open sea, to lose the comfortable sight of terra firmay to 
stake his life upon the accuracy of his own crude knowl- 
edge of geography, and to sail thus bravely into the 
Unknown, deserves to take rank with the world's great 
adventurers, with Colombus, with da Gama, with Magel- 
lan, and in that he had less of accumulated experience to 
fortify his resolution, he may even be accounted a greater 
than they. 

The opening up of the direct sea-route to India thus 
effected served at once to give an enormous impetus to 
trade between Alexandria and the East, and PHny was 
able to obtain first-hand information on the subject of 
Ceylon from four ambassadors whom a king of that 



6 FURTHER INDIA 

island sent to the Court of the Emperor Claudius. He 
states, among other things, that trade was carried on by 
the natives of Taprobane (Ceylon) with the Seres of 
northern China, though doubt is cast upon the matter by 
the fact that the Chinese are described as fair-haired, 
blue-eyed giants. On the other hand it is significant 
that no mention is made of any commercial relations sub- 
sisting between the peoples of Ceylon and those of south- 
eastern Asia. This is, at the best, but negative evidence, 
yet it is noteworthy as seeming to indicate that the sea- 
route between India and China was not even then in 
general use, despite the fact that commercial intercourse 
between the two empires had been carried on overland 
from a period of remote antiquity. 

Of Chryse, the Golden, Pliny, in fact, has nothing to 
tell us, and the author of the Periplus, whose personal 
knowledge did not extend beyond Nelkynda, probably 
Melisseram, on the Malabar coast, says of it only that it 
was situated opposite to the mouths of the Ganges and 
that it produced the best tortoise-shell found in all the 
Erythrsean Sea. He speaks, however, of Thina, the land 
of silk, situated " where the seacoast ends externally," 
whence we may gather that Chryse was conceived by 
him as an island lying not only to the east of the Ganges, 
but also to the southward of the Chinese Empire. This 
indicates a distinct advance in knowledge, for the isle of 
Chryse, albeit still enveloped in a golden haze, was to the 
author of the Periplus a real country, and no mere myth- 
ical fairy-land. Rumours, it would seem, must have 
reached him concerning it — rumours upon which he be- 




s 



G 

''^ 
u 
O 
u 

CJ 

o 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 7 

lieved he could rely — and this would tend to prove that 
the sea-route to China via the Straits of Malacca, even 
though it was not yet in general use, was no longer un- 
known to the mariners of the East. We know that less 
than a ^entury later the sailor Alexander, from whom 
Marinus of Tyre derived the knowledge subsequently 
utilised by Ptolemy, had himself sailed to the Malay 
Peninsula and beyond, and it may safely be concluded 
that the feasibility of this southeastern passage had be- 
come known to the seafarers of China long before an 
adventurer from the West was enabled to test the 
fact of its existence through the means of an actual 
voyage. 

Ptolemy's views concerning the geography of south- 
eastern Asia, derived mainly from the works of his pred- 
ecessor Marinus of Tyre, may best be appreciated by a 
glance at the map here reproduced from Mr. Bunbury's 
History of Ancient Geography. His primary misconcep- 
tion of the Indian Ocean as another and vaster Mediter- 
ranean was responsible for many of his geographical dis- 
tortions, yet if this preconceived notion, and the bias 
which it imparted to his ideas, be borne in mind, it will 
be found that there is good reason to believe that the in- 
formation supplied to him was derived originally from a 
man who had first-hand knowledge of the sea-route to 
China. Marinus had quoted the sailor Alexander as 
journeying from the Golden Chersonese along a coast- 
line which " faced south " — that is to say, ran from west 
to east, — for a period of twenty days, until a port called 
Zabae was reached. From this point, he declared, ships 



8 FURTHER INDIA 

sailed eastward of south for a still longer period until the 
town of Cattigara was reached. The exact locality of 
Cattigara has been much disputed, Mannert placing it in 
Borneo, while Bunbury inclines to the beHef that some 
point on the coast of Cochin China is indicated. On the 
other hand Marinus and Ptolemy both expressly state 
that Cattigara was a city of the Sinae, or in other words 
a port of southern China, and a study of the route fol- 
lowed at a later period by Arabian and European travel- 
lers alike reveals the fact that few ever passed on a long 
voyage to the eastward of the Golden Chersonese unless 
they were bound for the Celestial Empire. Furthermore, 
it will be found that it is only by taking some port of 
southern China as our starting point — viz.^ as being the 
town of Cattigara — that Ptolemy's itinerary can be made 
to have any sequence or meaning. The Sinus Magnus, 
which is described as the first sea crossed after leaving Cat- 
tigara, would then be the China Sea ; the Promontorium 
Magnum, dividing it from the Sinus Perimulicus, which 
is perhaps identical with Marinus's Zabae, would be some 
point upon the shores of Indo-China, corresponding with 
Champa, the kingdom which at a later period was an in- 
variable port of call for vessels making the China voyage. 
Similarly, the Sinus Perimulicus itself, which is described 
as washing the eastern shores of the Golden Chersonese, 
would be the Gulf of Siam ; the Golden Chersonese 
would be, as it is usually agreed that it is, the Malay 
Peninsula ; and the Sinus Sabaricus, on the western 
shores of the Chersonese, would correspond to the Straits 
of Malacca from their southern portals to the Gulf of 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 9 

Martaban. The island of labadius, or Sabadius — the 
reading of the name is doubtful — has generally been 
taken to represent Java, though there appears to be 
shght reason for the assumption, Java lying at a consid- 
erable distance from the sea-route to China, and being to 
a much later time visited with comparative infrequency 
by travellers from the west. On the other hand, Sumatra 
lay close to the track of ships plying between India and 
the Far East ; was a regular port of call from the period 
to which belongs the first authentic records of the China 
voyages ; and could not fail to be sighted by ships run- 
ning up the Straits of Malacca. It will be seen from the 
above that it is only by starting from southern China, 
that is by recognising Cattigara as a port of the Celestial 
Empire, possibly the Zayton of the medieval wanderers, 
or a town which preceded Zayton, as Zayton itself pre- 
ceded Canton, that Ptolemy's descriptive outHne can be 
applied to the true geographical facts of the region dealt 
with. No straining of probabiHties becomes necessary ; 
no statements have to be elaborately explained away ; 
and it may be stated without fear of refutation that this 
ceases to be the case if any other point be taken as the 
site of Cattigara. 

To the account of the distances said to have been sup- 
plied to Marinus by the sailor Alexander, no real impor- 
tance can be attached. It was the rough estimate of a 
man who was probably very ignorant, and it was given 
to a geographer who was not averse to making a bold 
guess if thereby the reported facts could be forced to fit 
in with ideas previously conceived. The same qualifying 



lo FURTHER INDIA 

consideration must be held to apply to the direction in 
which ships making the voyage to Cattigara are said to 
have sailed after passing the Golden Chersonese. The 
brief examination of Ptolemy's itinerary already attempted 
will suffice to establish the probability that Marinus's in- 
formant had actually travelled over the sea-route to 
southern China, and that the geographical confusions 
shown in the map of the world according to Ptolemy 
were due less to error in the information supplied than 
to the faulty reasoning occasioned by misconceptions 
on the part of the philosophers themselves. 

Although, as we have seen, the earliest indication of 
any conception of lands lying far to the east and south 
of the valley of the Ganges on the part of the learned of 
the West belongs to the year a. d. 43, and the first men- 
tion of the Chersonesus Aurea occurs in the works of 
Marinus of Tyre about a century later, it would appear 
that the name which the latter was the first to attach to 
a definite locality had become familiarly known to savants 
in Europe at a somewhat earlier period. This came 
about, it is probable, through the accounts brought back 
by mariners who had themselves made the voyage to 
this distant quarter of the earth, of whom there is no 
particular reason to believe that Marinus's Alexander 
was the first. The name itself would be suggestive of 
great wealth; distance would lend to it its customary 
enchantment ; the vague information current concerning 
it would serve to deck it with a halo of mystery, with 
the glamour of romance ; whence it would naturally arise 
that the Golden Chersonese would come to be regarded 




Ptolemy's Further India, as interpreted in the XVth 
Century 

From the Roman Ptolemy of 1490 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN n 

as the source whence was drawn the almost fabulous 
riches of which history held the record. 

In this connection a curious passage may be cited 
from Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews, which was writ- 
ten during the latter half of the first century, at a period, 
it will be noted, prior to the date of the works of Marinus 
of Tyre. Here, in speaking of the pilots furnished to 
Solomon by Hiram of Tyre, he writes : 

" To whom Solomon gave this command that they 
should go along with his stewards to the land that of old 
was called Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus^ which 
belongs to India, to fetch gold." 

Here, it will be remarked, Josephus speaks of the 
Chersonese with a certain familiarity, as of a region with 
the existence of which his readers would be in some sort 
acquainted, but apart from this he makes two very defi- 
nite statements — that Ophir and the Chersonesus Aurea 
are one, and that Ophir belonged to India. The second 
of these would seem to imply that he recognised that the 
Chersonese was not an integral portion of India, and 
since the name had never been borne by any country of 
the West, he must have intended to convey the meaning 
that it lay beyond the valley of the Ganges, which in his 
day was recognised as the eastern boundary of Hindu- 
stan. 

It is now generally held that Ophir itself was, in all 
probability, a mere distributing centre situated some- 
where in the neighbourhood of the entrance to the Red 
Sea, and that the pilots of Hiram of Tyre did not guide 
the Stewards of Solomon to the actual source of the gold 



12 FURTHER INDIA 

which went to deck the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem. 
The discovery of vast mines in southern Africa, which 
are beUeved to date from an immense antiquity, has 
led of late years to the conclusion that this was the 
region whence Solomon in his glory drew his stores of 
gold. 

M. Auguste Pavie in the second volume of his monu- 
mental work on Indo-China contends that ancient Kam- 
bodia is the original Ophir, and that to the whole of the 
vast peninsula, rather than to its southern portion of 
Malaya, was applied in ancient days the name of the 
Chersonesus Aurea. The wonderful civilisation of the 
Khmers which brought into being the splendid buildings 
of Angkor, of which more will be said in a later chapter, 
testifies to the existence of a mighty empire in Indo-China 
which must once have been a centre of wealth and com- 
merce. The vast siltage, borne down from the remote 
interior by the floods of the Mekong, has changed the 
face of the country within historical times, and Angkor 
Thom itself, now distant nearly two hundred miles from 
the coast, was once a seaport. That the Khmer Empire 
must in its day have played an important part in the his- 
tory of eastern Asia cannot be doubted, but M. Pavie's 
arguments, plausible though they often are, fail to carry 
conviction when he seeks to prove the identity of Kam- 
bodia with Ophir. Also, as regards his contention that 
the whole of Indo-China was included in the term the 
Golden Chersonese, it is difficult to believe that what is 
in fact an immense peninsula was ever recognised as such 
by the early mariners and geographers. Its bulk is too 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 13 

great for its peninsular character to be easily or immedi- 
ately appreciated, while the Malay Peninsula, that long 
and slender tongue of land projecting to the south of the 
continent of Asia, forces an understanding of its nature 
upon the least scientific and observant traveller. 

In these circumstances M. Pavie's arguments seem to 
be impossible of acceptance, and the recent discovery in 
the Malayan State of Pahang — the home of apes and 
ivory and peafowl — of immense gold mines of very 
ancient date and of a workmanship that has no counter- 
part in southeastern Asia, supplies an ample reason for 
the designation of *' golden " so long appHed to the 
Chersonese. Here, hidden away under the shade of the 
primeval forest, are excavations which must have yielded 
in their time tons of the precious metal, and if Josephus 
spoke truly, and did not, as is more probable, merely 
hazard a bold conjecture, here perhaps are to be found 
in the heart of the Chersonesus Aurea the mines of 
Solomon the King. Of the race that worked them, of 
the slaves who toiled and suffered and died therein, we 
to-day possess no clue, for this, the story of the earliest 
exploration of a portion of southeastern Asia, is lost to 
us forever. Here, however, at the very outset of our 
enquiry, we obtain a glimpse of one of those pregnant 
suggestions wherewith Asia impresses our imaginations 
by virtue of her antiquity, her wonder and her mystery. 
Hers is the land of buried story, of hidden records, of 
forgotten romance. The East baffles while she fascinates 
us : fascinates because she baffles. Sphinx-like she pro- 
pounds riddles which few can answer, luring us onward 



H FURTHER INDIA 

with illusive hopes of inspiring revelations, yet hiding 
ever in her splendid, tattered bosom the secrets of the 
oldest and least amply recorded of human histories. 

After the time of Ptolemy there follows a long and 
barren period during which little advance in geographical 
knowledge was made by the nations of the West, nor is 
it until the sixth century that anything resembling new 
light is thrown by a European upon the topography of 
southeastern Asia. Moreover the shedder of that light 
is himself a grotesque figure, an angry theologian bent 
upon proving the impossible, and moved to intense fury 
by the impiety of those who, touching more nearly the 
skirts of truth, have not the advantage of agreeing with 
him. This is Cosmas Indicopleustes, a monk and an 
Alexandrian Greek, who between 530 and 550 a. d. set 
himself the task of proving that the universe was 
fashioned after the model of the Ark made by the 
Children of Israel in the desert. It is not necessary to 
follow him through the mazes of his argument, all of 
which he supported by texts culled from the Scriptures, 
but out of the tissue of absurdities to which he pinned 
his faith two facts emerge. While inveighing in season 
and out of season against those who clung to the belief 
that the world was globular, and against the unspeakable 
naughtiness of the adherents to the poisonous doctrine 
of the antipodes, he displays a sound knowledge of the 
sea-route to China, stating that a ship after travelling 
sufficiently far to the east, must turn to the north, and 
must sail in that direction " at least as far as a vessel 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 15 

bound for Chaldea would have to run up the Straits of 
Hormuz to the mouths of the Euphrates " in order to 
reach the Celestial Empire, thus disposing once for all of 
Ptolemy's theory of a great southern continent enclosing 
the Indian Ocean upon which the land of the Sinae, or 
southern Chinese, was formerly supposed to be situated. 
Cosmas, too, as Yule remarks, " was the earliest writer 
to speak of China in a matter-of-fact way, and not as a 
country enveloped in a half-mythical haze." In his 
work, therefore, we find the first written record of an 
appreciation on the part of a European of the true 
relative positions of China and of the lands of south- 
eastern Asia. The advance in knowledge thus indicated 
is not great, but it is considerably ahead of that possessed 
by Ptolemy, and for the sake of the truth which he was 
the earliest to disseminate we may forgive Cosmas the 
monk the farrago of nonsense with which he surrounded 
it, and also much of his bigotry and rage. 

Meanwhile inter- Asiatic intercourse by means of the 
sea-routes had been steadily on the increase. It was the 
energy and the enterprise of Hippalus, a Greek, — or so 
we are led to believe by the classical writers who are on 
this point our only authorities — which showed the way 
to the Arabs and the Persians across the Indian Ocean, 
but during the centuries which followed upon his dis- 
covery, though an immense trade was in the hands of 
the merchants of Alexandria, the greatest sea-power in 
this quarter of the world, after the decline of the Roman 
Empire, was that of the Persians. As early as the 
middle of the second century the Romans had es- 



i6 FURTHER INDIA 

tablished trading-stations at Aden, on the shores of 
Arabia and in Socotra, while during the same period the 
commerical relations between the Persians and India had 
undergone a great expansion. Before the first half of 
the fifth century had ended this commerce had been 
considerably extended while the Roman trade had de- 
clined, and according to Masudi and Hamza of Ispahan 
the port of Hira was visited at this time by numbers of 
vessels, not only from the mainland of India, but also 
from distant China. The rise of the Muhammadan 
power, while it closed the portals of the East to the 
nations of Europe, gave to the Muslims the practical 
monopoly of Asiatic trade with the West, and during 
their prime the Khalifs of Baghdad were well-nigh 
supreme in the Indian Ocean. Muhammadan colonies 
were scattered broadcast over the eastern world, and in 
758 the followers of the Prophet in China were suffi- 
ciently numerous to be able to cause serious disturbances 
in that country. The existence of these colonies too 
made it possible for a Muslim to travel with ease in 
almost any quarter of the East, and the excellent Ibn 
Batuta, the professional religious man who preyed upon 
the Faithful with such satisfaction to himself and to his 
victims, though he was one of the earliest to give to us a 
detailed account of his wanderings, was certainly not 
among the first Muhammadans to take advantage of the 
opportunities which the accident of their religion 
afforded to them. 

It has already been noted that no mention of the sea- 
route to China occurs in any work prior to that of Mari- 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 17 

nus of Tyre, despite the fact that the overland route from 
India to the Celestial Empire had been in general use 
from a very remote period. It is certain, however, that 
the existence of the former means of communication 
must have been known to the mariners of the Far East 
long before any rumour concerning it filtered through to 
the geographers of Europe. The overland route was 
still much frequented as late as the thirteenth century, 
when the Polos passed over it on their journey to China, 
and its greater antiquity would suffice to account for the 
fact that it was familiarly known to traders from the 
West who visited India long before the sea-passage had 
been heard of by them. It is none the less impossible 
to believe that the latter highway was unknown, at any 
rate to the natives of Southern China, some time before 
the beginning of our era. The Chinese civilisation is one 
of the most ancient in existence, presenting as it does 
the twin marvel of an immense antiquity and of a pre- 
cocious development inexplicably arrested. The Chinese 
are said to have understood the use of the mariner's 
compass as early as b. c. 2634, and though there is reason 
to question the accuracy of this statement, their written 
records concerning the properties of the lodestone date 
from early in the second century of our era, and it is 
thought that the compass was in practical use long be- 
fore the earliest treatise of this kind which has come 
down to us. If this were so, it is at least possible that 
Chinese seamen were accustomed to venture out of sight 
of land before ever Hippalus made his way across the 
Indian Ocean, and a glance at the map will show that 



i8 FURTHER INDIA 

few opportunities for doing so would occur unless voyages 
from the point of Kambodia to the Malay Peninsula and 
the islands of the Archipelago, or again from the Straits 
of Malacca to Ceylon and India had become habitual. 

We may conclude with a fair show of probability that 
the Httorals of the China Sea, the Gulf of Siam and the 
Straits of Malacca were explored by the seamen of China 
not earlier than the coast-line between the mouths of the 
Indus and the Straits of Hormuz was skirted by the fleet 
of Alexander under Nearchus in the fourth century b. c. 

Again, the unmistakable impress of Hindu influence 
which is to be detected in the architecture of the Khmers 
of Kambodia, several of whose buildings date from 200 
B. c, demonstrates the fact that intercourse between India 
and Indo-China must have been frequent at a very early 
period, and such intercourse would almost certainly have 
been conducted by sea. It has even been accepted by 
many as a fact that Gauthama Buddha himself visited 
Kambodia, and if this were so — the matter is one which 
is hardly susceptible of mathematical proof — it would 
presuppose communication between India and Indo- 
China as early as 500 b. c. 

Owing to the fact, already noted, that after the rise of 
the Muhammadan power the sea-borne trade between 
western and eastern Asia passed almost exclusively into 
the hands of Muslims, the first detailed accounts of the 
sea-route to China come to us from the Arabian and 
Persian geographers. The earliest Arabic manuscript of 
this kind belongs to the year a. d. 851, and has been 
edited and translated by M. Reinaud, the French Ori- 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 19 

entalist. The first few pages of this work are lost, but 
its earUer portion was obviously written by one who had 
himself made the China voyage. The second part of 
the book dates from the year 916, and is the work of a 
certain Abu Zaid Hassan, a native of Siraf on the Per- 
sian Gulf, who, though he does not appear to have had 
any personal experience of the trade-route dealt with, 
must have enjoyed opportunities of obtaining first-hand 
information from those who had themselves made the 
voyage. The portion of the book written by the mer- 
chant-mariner is in the nature of sailing directions, and 
the Arab's genius for mispronouncing foreign tongues, 
which is second only to that of the Englishman, causes 
the proper names given in the manuscript to present a 
series of puzzles to the enquirer. M. Reinaud himself 
would appear to have completely misunderstood the 
route indicated, and by far the best identification which 
has yet been suggested is to be found in an article from 
the pen of M. Alfred Maury in the Bulletin de Geographic 
for the year 1846. 

It would be tedious to examine in detail the grounds 
for the identification of the various seas and lands there 
set forth, but the facts to be gathered from an examination 
of the somewhat wearisome itinerary laid down in the man- 
uscript are that ships sailing from India for China took, 
during the ninth century, approximately the following 
course. After touching at Ceylon and the Nicobars, 
they came to anchor in a port near the northeastern ex- 
tremity of Sumatra. Thence, after occasionally touch- 
ing at a State on the western coast of the Malay Penin- 



20 FURTHER INDIA 

sula, they made their way to the southern outlet of the 
Straits of Malacca, halted at the island of Bentan to take 
in fuel and water, or for similar purposes at an island of 
the Natuna group, came to port once more at some har- 
bour either of the eastern shores of the Malay Peninsula, 
Siam or Kambodia, passed on to Champa, and thence to 
Zayton or some other port of the southern provinces of 
China. It will be noted that the route thus traced is 
practically identical with that over which we have sup- 
posed the sailor Alexander to have journeyed, and in a 
later chapter we shall find that a precisely similar course 
was followed by all the medieval travellers to and from 
China of whose wanderings we have a record. The sea- 
route via southeastern Asia had by this time become a 
well-beaten track, but certain ports of call were used to 
the exclusion of all others, and the primary value of this 
great highway was as a means of getting to and from 
China, few wanderers being tempted to stray from the 
appointed path which custom had marked out for ships 
plying in these waters. 

The establishment of important commercial colonies 
in China by the Arabs and the Persians, concerning 
which Abu Zaid Hassan's portion of the manuscript 
furnishes some interesting particulars, presupposes that 
the passage to the Celestial Empire via the Straits of 
Malacca and the China Sea was now made by these peo- 
ple with great frequency, and the ports of call along that 
route, which seem to have been practically the same from 
the time of Marinus of Tyre to that of Ibn Batuta who 
returned from his wanderings in 1347, were also to some 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 21 

extent used by the Arabs as settlements and trade 
depots. It is obvious from internal evidence furnished 
by the works of Abu Zaid, of Masudi, Edrisi and 
Abulfeda that a few Arab mariners turned aside from the 
beaten track sufficiently far for Java to become a country 
which was comparatively well-known, but this was the 
exception, not the rule, and nowhere do we find reason 
for thinking that the Arabs ever ventured far inland, save 
only in China itself. In spite of a wider and surer 
knowledge of Malaya and Indo-China than any which 
at this time was possessed by Europeans, the notions en- 
tertained concerning these regions by the Arabian 
geographers were still very vague and imperfect. 
Ptolemy's misapprehension concerning the Mediterranean 
character of the Indian Ocean was endorsed and per- 
petuated by successive Arabian geographers, many of 
whom doubtless arrived at this false conclusion independ- 
ently of their great predecessor. Some held with him 
that the African continent was prolonged in such fashion 
that it lay to the south of Malaya, while others were of 
opinion that the great southern terra incognita^ whose 
existence they had deduced from unknown premises, 
was divided from Africa by a narrow strait. For the 
rest, in spite of persistent attempts to treat geographical 
questions in a scientific manner, and to divide the 
habitable world into climates, or latitudes and longitudes, 
the general ideas at which they arrived concerning the 
comparative sizes and the relative positions of various 
countries were extraordinarily inexact. 

This is well illustrated by the two maps showing the 



22 FURTHER INDIA 

world according to Masudi and Edrisi respectively, here 
reproduced from M. Reinaud's excellent edition of La 
Geographic d' Aboulfeda. Masudi, who wrote during 
the first half of the tenth century and who was a con- 
temporary of Abu Zaid Hassan, had not only travelled 
extensively, but was also well versed in the literature of 
his subject and had had access to older Arabic works 
which have since been lost to us. His book therefore rep- 
resented the widest and soundest geographical knowledge 
of his time, yet a glance at the chart which puts his con- 
ception of the universe before us in a convenient form 
suffices to demonstrate how radical were many of his mis- 
conceptions concerning the form and nature of the earth's 
surface, and how great was his confusion in matters of 
detail. For him Indo-China and Malaya consisted of 
one lozenge-shaped peninsula to the south of which lay 
Sumatra in the same latitude as Ceylon, while Java was 
situated further to the eastward almost on the same 
parallel. China itself was also a peninsula, separated 
from that of Indo-China by a great gulf, while far to the 
south of all lay a vast terra incognita which had its be- 
ginning near the south of the Sudan. 

Edrisi's chart is even more confusing, although its author 
who lived and wrote under King Roger II of Sicily, 
completed his work in 1153-54. He fills almost the 
whole of the southern hemisphere with the African con- 
tinent, makes the Mediterranean occupy an altogether 
disproportionate space in the universe, vastly exaggerates 
the size of Sicily and of Ceylon, while to neither India 
nor China does he give the prominence which rightly 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 23 

belongs to it. When he passes to the eastward of Al 
Rami, or Sumatra, he becomes involved in inextricable 
confusion. 

An examination of these two charts will serve better 
than aught else to bring home to the reader the exceed- 
ingly rudimentary state of geographical knowledge even 
as late as the twelfth century, yet it must be remembered 
that at this period the geographers of Arab nationality 
were far in advance of Europeans, and that, notwith- 
standing their many errors, substantial progress is shown 
by their work if it be compared with the shadowy sur- 
mises and guesses of Marinus and Ptolemy, more espe- 
cially with regard to southeastern Asia. 



CHAPTER II 

THE MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 

THE first of the European wanderers in the Far 
East, the personal narrative of whose adven- 
tures has come down to us, is Messer Marco 
Polo, the Venetian. The wonderful story of the great 
overland journey made by this traveller in the company 
of his father and uncle when they set out from Constan- 
tinople " to traverse the world," will be dealt with in a sep- 
arate volume, and need not here be recapitulated in detail. 
For us the travels of Marco Polo begin and end with his 
passage across the seas and amidst the islands of south- 
eastern Asia on his return journey from Cathay to Europe. 
And once again the fate, which we have noted as doom- 
ing the Indo-Chinese peninsula to obscurity, causes this 
portion of Marco Polo's narrative to be more tangled 
and more destitute of detail than almost any other 
chapters in his book. The slovenliness of his descriptions 
of the countries between Champa, or Chamba, as he calls 
it, and Ceylon, and the scant measure of reliable fact 
which is to be extracted from his account of his journey, 
moved the late Mr. John Crawfurd to contemptuous in- 
dignation. " The information communicated," he 
declares, " is more Hke what might be expected from a 
Chinese than a European traveller, and the author who 
had gone to China at eighteen, and lived there for twenty 

24 




Marco Polo, from a painting in the Gallery of 
Monsignore Badia at Rome 

From the book of Ser Marco Polo (by permission of Mr. John Murray) 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 25 

years, was probably in his turn of thinking as much a 
Chinese as a European." What hampered Marco Polo 
in his observations of southeastern Asia far more ma- 
terially than any accident of training, however, was that 
after traversing the entire continent, and living for a 
score of years in the land of the Great Kaan, the com- 
parative insignificance of the countries of the Malay 
Archipelago must have struck him with peculiar force. 
There is internal evidence of some such attitude of mind 
in many of his references to these regions. In several 
passages Polo is constantly to be detected comparing 
everything he saw with that greater world of Cathay in 
which so large a portion of his life had been spent, and 
it is not wonderful, therefore, if he dismissed with a bare 
mention lands and peoples which fell so far short of the 
standard whereby he scaled them. 

Setting out from the port of Zayton in the province of 
Fokien, Marco relates that " after sailing for some three 
months " he and his shipmates arrived " at a certain 
island towards the south which is called Java. . . . 
Quitting this island they continued to navigate the Sea 
of India for eighteen months before they arrived whither 
they were bound," viz.y at Hormuz. The journey was 
made in immense Chinese junks, several of which carried 
crews of 250 or 260 men. The Java of which Marco Polo 
here speaks is not Java proper, but " Java the Less," as 
he elsewhere names it, or in other words, Sumatra. To 
the voyage to the mouth of the Straits of Malacca, there- 
fore, must be added the run up the coast of Sumatra to a 
point near its northeastern extremity, an insignificant 



26 FURTHER INDIA 

distance it is true, but one which a sailing vessel may 
take a long time in covering, since in these sheltered 
waters navigation is not aided by the constant winds of 
the monsoon. When every allowance has been made, 
however, it must be confessed that Marco Polo's journey 
from China to Sumatra occupied a prodigious time. 

When, therefore, Sumatra was at last reached the force 
of the northeast monsoon was spent, and Marco Polo 
and his comrades had to make up their minds to a five 
months' stay upon the island while they awaited the 
return of a favourable wind. 

Concerning the lands of southeastern Asia he has no 
very illuminating information to supply. Champa, or 
Chamba, was to him remarkable chiefly because it was a 
«« very rich region, having a King of its own," whose 
children numbered 326 souls ! He notes the vast 
quantity of tame elephants in use in this country, the 
" abundance " of lignaloes, and the existence of extensive 
forests of a jet-black timber, called bonus, but his account 
of Kublai Kaan's attempts to subdue the country is 
startlingly inaccurate. His description of Java — not 
** Java the Less," but the smaller and richer island over 
which the Dutch flag flies to-day — is hardly more exact, 
and it is plain that, lying as it does far from the highway 
between China and the West, he never personally visited 
it. He greatly overestimates its size, mentions that its 
king had no over-lord, and credits it with many vegetable 
products which it does not produce, the fact being that 
Java was at this period the great emporium of the trade 
of the Malayan Archipelago, the produce of the islands 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 27 

being brought thither and thence distributed to the 
markets of the world. The islands of Sondur and 
Condur, 700 miles from Champa, at which Marco's ship 
would appear to have touched, are the Pulau Kondor of 
to-day, once the site of a factory of the British East 
India Company, and now a penal settlement to which 
convicts are sent from Saigon, the capital of French Indo- 
China. Locac — " a good country and a rich ; (it is on 
the mainland) ; and it has a king of its own. The people 
are idolaters and have a ; peculiar language, and pay 
tribute to nobody, for their country is so situated that no 
one can enter it to do them ill," — is also described as yield- 
ing brasil " in great plenty ; and they also have gold in 
incredible quantity." " They also," he adds, " have 
elephants and much game. In this kingdom too are 
gathered all the porcelain shells which are used for small 
change in all these regions." The identity of Locac has 
been much disputed, but the strongest case is made out 
by Sir Henry Yule, who places it in the Malay Peninsula, 
somewhere in what is now called Lower Siam. 

Marco Polo's Pentam, " a very wild place," 500 miles 
towards the south, is almost certainly the island of Bentan 
near the entrance to the Straits of Malacca, " and when 
you have gone these sixty miles and again about thirty 
more, you come to an island which forms a kingdom, and 
is called Malaiur. The people have a king of their own 
and a peculiar language. The city is a fine and noble 
one, and there is great trade carried on there, and all 
other necessaries of life." It is impossible to disregard 
Polo's distinct assertion that Malaiur was an island, and 



28 FURTHER INDIA 

further the fact that it is not included in his Hst of 
Sumatran kingdoms, wherefore it seems probable that in 
his day there existed a Malayan state of considerable 
importance, possibly upon the island on which the town 
of Singapore now stands. 

Sumatra, or " Java the Less," is dealt with in some- 
what greater detail. In speaking of Ferlec (Perlak) he 
says : 

" This kingdom, you must know, is so much fre- 
quented by the Saracen merchants that they have con- 
verted the natives to the Law of Mahommet — I mean the 
townspeople only, for the hill-people live for all the worl 
like beasts, and eat human flesh, clean or unclean. And 
they worship this, that, and the other thing ; for in fact 
the first thing they see on rising in the morning, that 
they do worship for the rest of the day." 

We have here yet another proof of the frequency with 
which the Arab merchants resorted to Malaya, and a 
hint at the length of that intercourse, for even the more 
civilised sections of a community do not become con- 
verted to an alien faith save after long and intimate asso- 
ciation with its professors. 

Basma (Pasei), another Sumatran State, declared itself, 
Marco Polo tells us, to be subject to the Great Kaan, though 
it paid him no regular tribute, only sending him presents 
from time to time. Ibn Batuta, the Arab traveller, when 
he returned from China some fifty years later, made the 
voyage in a ship which belonged to " the King of Su- 
matra" who had been to pay homage to the Emperor, 
and it is possible that this Muhammadan potentate may 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 29 

have been no other than the then Raja of Pasei. It is 
in w^riting of this State that Polo tells us of wild elephants 
and of " numerous unicorns, which are very nearly as 
big." His description of these latter monsters is de- 
lightful : 

" They have hair like that of a buffalo, feet like those 
of an elephant, and a horn in the middle of the forehead, 
which is black and very thick. They do no mischief, 
however, with the horn, but with the tongue alone ; for 
this is covered all over with long and strong prickles (and 
when savage with any one they crush him under their 
1'' ees and then rasp him with their tongue). The head 
resembles that of a wild boar, and they carry it ever bent 
towards the ground. They delight much to abide in 
mire and mud. 'Tis a passing ugly beast to look upon, 
and it is not in the least hke that which our stories tell us 
of as being caught in the lap of a virgin : in fact 't is alto- 
gether different from what we fancied." 

Here, in spite of some flowers of fancy, we have no 
sort of difficulty in recognising the rhinoceros, a truly 
different creature to the graceful unicorn of our legends; 
but it is curious that the Sumatran species is two horned, 
and that while it has hair like that of a water-buffalo, it 
carries its head far more erect than does the one-horned 
variety commonly met with on the other side of the 
Straits of Malacca. One cannot help fancying that Polo 
had actually seen a specimen of the one-horned rhinoc- 
eros, and that he subsequently heard of the existence of 
the creature in Sumatra, for on the whole he describes 
the animal with wonderful accuracy. 



30 FURTHER INDIA 

Another interesting passage about Basma is as follows : 

" I may tell you moreover that when people bring 
home pigmies which they allege come from India, 't is all 
a lie and a cheat. For these little men, as they call them, 
are manufactured on this Island, and I will tell you how. 
You see there is on this Island a kind of monkey which 
is very small and hath a face like a man's. They take 
these, and pluck out all the hair, except the hair of the 
beard and on the breast, and then they dry them and 
stuff them and daub them with saffron and other things 
until they look like men. But you see it is all a cheat ; 
for nowhere in India nor anywhere else in the world 
were there ever men seen so small as these pretended 
pigmies." 

The creature here referred to is obviously the yellow 
gibbon, found in great numbers in the Malay Peninsula 
and in Sumatra, an ape of peculiarly human aspect, tail- 
less, and though of a purely arborial habit unable to 
walk save upon its hind legs. If Polo is right, the man- 
ufacture of " freaks " would seem to be by no means a 
modern or an American invention ! 

Of Dagroian, which would seem to have occupied the 
position of the httle State now known as Pedir, Polo 
tells us that the natives were in the habit of devouring 
their ailing relatives, whose death they caused by suffo- 
cation as soon as their recovery had been declared to be 
impossible by the medicine-men. The reason of this 
custom, as given by Polo, is curious : 

" And I assure you," he says, " they do suck the very 
bones till not a particle of marrow remains in them ; for 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 31 

they say that if any nourishment remained in the bones 
this would breed worms, and then the worms would die 
for want of food, and the death of these worms would be 
laid to the charge of the deceased man's soul. And so 
they eat him up stump and rump. And when they have 
eaten him they collect his bones and put them in fine 
chests, and carry them away, and place them in caverns 
among the mountains where no beast nor other creature 
can get at them. And you must know also that if they 
take prisoner a man of another country, and he cannot 
pay ransom in coin, they kill and eat him straightway. 
It is a very evil custom and a parlous." 

As every one has learned from experience, who has 
himself made some attempt to collect versions of local 
superstitions, to examine quaint customs, and to seek for 
their explanations from the people among whom they 
prevail, it is fatally easy to misconceive and misinterpret 
if long and familiar intercourse has not given to the en- 
quirer a very thorough understanding of and sympathy 
with the native point of view. One and the same prac- 
tice, regarded from the standpoint of those to whom im- 
memorial usage has made it a matter of course, and from 
that of the stranger who lights upon it unexpectedly, 
assumes wholly different aspects and proportions, and to 
this fact is due more than half the cock-and-bull stories 
and patently absurd explanations which to this day travel- 
lers bring back with them from their sojourns among 
peoples whom they have imperfectly comprehended. 

Of Lambri — the Lambrij of de Barros, the Al Ramni 
of the Arabs — a State which seems to have been situated 



32 FURTHER INDIA 

upon the northern borders of the modern Acheh, Polo 
tells us that the natives called themselves the subjects of 
the Great Kaan, that they cultivated brasil, and had 
" plenty of camphor and all sorts of spices." He also 
relates that there were here men with tails, " a palm in 
length," hairless, and " about the thickness of a dog's," — 
a very popular fable of the Archipelago which is still 
current among the natives in many places even in our 
own time. 

Polo's remarks on the subject of the Sumatran States 
have been examined in some detail, not because they 
have much intrinsic importance, but because they can 
claim a certain interest as being the first notes ever made 
by a European upon the condition of an island of the 
Malayan Archipelago. Of geographical data little in- 
deed is to be won from a perusal of Messer Marco's 
book, his itinerary showing, what we already knew, that 
the sea-route from China via southeastern Asia had be- 
come a great highway of commerce, and that certain 
ports of call, known to the Arabs centuries earlier, were 
still used to the exclusion of all others at the end of the 
thirteenth century. For the rest we learn that the trade 
in the distinctive products of the Malayan Archipelago 
was flourishing in 1296, as it had been, in all probability, 
before the days of Ptolemy ; that the ubiquitous Arab 
merchants had already established colonies and begun 
the conversion of the Malays to Muhammadanism on 
the east coast of Sumatra ; and that cannibalism was a 
marked feature in the customs of the pagan people of 
the island. All this adds little to the story of explora- 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 33 

tion in southeastern Asia, yet we have felt constrained 
to follow Marco Polo closely because the figure of this 
early European wanderer is at once so interesting, so pic- 
turesque and so romantic, and the imagination is tempted 
to dwell and linger over the story of the three lonely 
white men who so far as we have any record, were the first 
of their kind to sojourn for a season amid the mysterious 
forests of Malaya — the lands which were fated to become 
at a later period the heritage of the nations of the West. 

The impossibility of fixing even approximately the 
date which first saw the opening-up of the sea-route to 
China has already been noted, and though Messer Marco 
Polo is the earliest European wanderer in the Far East 
who has become for us articulate, it is possible that many 
before him penetrated to Cathay or traversed the seas of 
which he wTote. The wide dissemination of Nestorian 
Christianity from Jerusalem eastward to Peking, which 
had taken place by the fourteenth century, argues a 
closer intercourse between the West and the East via the 
overland route than is generally recognised, while the 
celebrated inscription disinterred at Sing-an-fu proves that 
the heretical doctrine was publicly preached in China, and 
received sanction and encouragement from the authori- 
ties, as early as the seventh century. That the inter- 
course which is thus implied was carried on wholly by 
land seems the reverse of probable, yet the fact remains 
that no authentic record of Europeans having travelled 
through southeastern Asia is to be found earlier than the 
date of the Polo manuscripts. 



34 FURTHER INDIA 

Of later wanderers, however, there are not a few, 
though for the most part their references to Malaya and 
Indo-China are merely incidental, and it is curious to 
note the impunity with which, during the Middle Ages, 
solitary white men were able to travel unmolested 
through Asiatic lands. This forces upon us a recogni- 
tion of the fact that the European invasion of Asia, 
which began with the rounding of the Cape by Vasco 
da Gama in 1497, has had a very injurious effect upon the 
character of the Oriental peoples. Prior to the coming 
of the white men an extraordinary measure of tolerance, 
even of hospitality, was extended to strangers without 
distinction of race or creed. All the early travellers 
combine in bearing testimony to the care which was 
taken of aliens by, for example, the authorities in China, 
the people who before all others are to-day a byword for 
their suspicious dislike of foreigners. The reason of this 
change of attitude is to be sought for, not in the naughti- 
ness of the Oriental, nor in his moral degeneracy, but in 
the misconduct of the early European filibusters which 
put the East forever on the defensive, and caused the 
name of the white man to stink in the nostrils of the 
brown peoples. 

The only medieval wanderers with whose passage 
through southeastern Asia we need concern ourselves 
are Blessed Odoric of Fordone in Friuli, a friar of the 
Order of St. Francis, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn 
Abd Allah El Lawati, commonly called Ibn Batuta, 
"the traveller without peer of the whole Arab na- 
tion," as he is affectionately called by a holy man of 




Odoric 

From the Cittadino Italiano 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 35 

his own faith, and Friar John de' MarignolH, who in 
1338 was sent by the Pope on a mission to the Great 
Kaan. 

Odoric is supposed to have been born in 1 286, to have 
begun his Oriental travels about 1 318, to have returned 
to Europe in 1330 or thereabouts, and to have dictated 
his reminiscences to a brother Franciscan at Padua ere 
he crept home to the House of his Order at Udine, 
where he died in January, 1331. He made his way to 
Constantinople, thence overland to the Persian Gulf, 
eventually reaching the coast of Malabar, where he 
visited the shrine of St. Thomas the Apostle at 
Mailapur, the modern Madras. 

" Departing from this region towards the south across 
the ocean sea," he tells us, " I came in fifty days to a 
certain country called Lamori (the State in Sumatra 
called Al Ramni by the Arabs and Lambri by Polo) in 
which I began to lose sight of the north star, as the 
earth intercepted it. And in that country the heat is so 
excessive that all folk there, both men and women, go 
naked, not clothing themselves in any wise." 

The natives of this State are described as " an evil and 
pestilent generation" who had no formal marriage, all 
women being in common. This is an allegation often 
made against savage and semi-savage communities since 
Caesar wrote of Britain, and on closer examination it is 
usually found to be based upon a misunderstanding of 
native customs. 

Odoric*s narrative is interesting because he is the first 
writer to make mention of a "kingdom by name 



36 FURTHER INDIA 

Sumoltra," doubtless the same as Polo's Samara, which 
he places to the south of Lamori, a State which later 
gave its name to the island upon the coast of which it 
was situated. It is doubtful whether the fact of the 
insularity of their native lands was reaHsed at all 
generally by the inhabitants of Sumatra, of Java or of 
Borneo, and I greatly question whether the average 
Malay of these parts, even now, has any true apprecia- 
tion of these geographical facts. 

Odoric also mentions still further to the south " an- 
other realm called Resengo," though he tells us naught 
concerning it. The name, however, would lead us to 
infer that the country of the Rejang is indicated, the 
State in which the British East India Company's station 
of Bengcoolen was subsequently established. Its inhab- 
itants, of whom by the way Polo makes no mention, 
were among the most civilised of the Sumatrans, possess- 
ing not only a peculiar language, but also an original 
written character. 

From Sumatra Odoric passed to Java, which he states 
was ruled by a king who had seven other monarchs tribu- 
tary to him. It is, he quaintly says, " the second best of 
islands that exist," and he was greatly struck by its riches 
and by the magnificence of the palace in which its sov- 
ereign had his dwelling. He adds that the Great Kaan 
" many times engaged in war with this king ; but this 
king always vanquished and got the better of him," a 
statement which is historically true, Kublai Kaan having 
launched two unsuccessful expeditions against Java dur- 
ing the time which had elapsed between Marco Polo's 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 37 

passage through the Straits of Malacca and Odoric's visit 
to the island. 

Near Java — a somewhat vague term — Odoric places a 
country called •* Panten, but others call it Thalamasyn, 
the king whereof hath many islands under him." It 
produced sago, honey, toddy and a deadly vegetable 
poison, which was used to smear the blow-pipe darts of 
the natives who were " nearly all rovers," or pirates. 
All this points with some certainty to Borneo, and Ban- 
jarmasin, which was a flourishing kingdom as early as 
the eleventh century, may have been Odoric's Thalama- 
syn, or Panten may have stood for Kalamantan, a name 
by which a portion of Borneo was known in ancient 
times. 

" By the coast of this country towards the south," 
Odoric continues, " is the sea called the Dead Sea, the 
water whereof runneth ever towards the south, and if 
any falleth into that water he is never found more." 

At a later period de Barros relates a superstition of 
the natives to the effect that the currents beyond the 
Straits of Bali acted in a similar manner, and it is possi- 
ble that in this legend is to be found the germ of the 
tale concerning the current which wrecked Sindbad, and 
cast him up, more fortunate than his fellows, upon the 
bone-strewn island whence he escaped by means of the 
subterranean passage. To Odoric we also owe one of 
the earliest descriptions of the bamboo " canes or reeds 
like great trees," and of the rattan, while he further 
speaks of stones found in these " canes " which were re- 
garded as charms that conferred the advantage of invul- 



38 FURTHER INDIA 

nerability upon their wearers. It is curious to note that 
these siliceous deposits are still treasured by the Malays 
for similar reasons in the present day. 

Champa, or Zampa as he spells it, is the last country 
in this part of the world of which Odoric leaves us any 
record, and here he echoes Polo's astonishment at the 
number of the king's offspring which he places at " a 
good two hundred." 

It will be seen from the above summary that the 
Blessed Odoric does not add materially to the sum of our 
knowledge concerning the lands through which he wan- 
dered, and his narrative is chiefly noteworthy because it 
demonstrates that at the beginning of the fourteenth 
century it was possible for a solitary Italian friar to roam 
up and down the east without let or hindrance, mainly, 
it must be supposed, at the charges of those whom he 
encountered on his journey. The achievement is all the 
more remarkable because, unlike Ibn Batuta, his religion 
gave him no claim upon the piety of the ubiquitous Mu- 
hammadan communities. 

The Arab traveller, who was born in Tangier on Feb- 
ruary 24th, 1 304, set out upon his wanderings in his twenty- 
first year. He did not return until 1 347. In all he covered 
more than 75,000 English miles, a respectable record even 
in these days of easy and swift journeying ; wandering over 
a large part of Asia before he finally made his way back to 
Fez, in which place his book was dictated by the order of 
the Sultan. It is a marvellous record, and the manner in 
which it is told is inimitably naive and amusing, but to 
us its chief interest lies in the fact that it illustrates in a 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 39 

Striking manner the opportunities for travelling w^hich in 
the early fourteenth century were open to any adventur- 
ous Muslim. Ibn Batuta, professional holy man, regarded 
his coreligionists as created for his comfort and conven- 
ience. Wherever he went he preyed upon them shame- 
lessly, and deemed them sufficiently honoured by being 
suffered to minister to his needs, travelHng in this fashion to 
the very ends of the then known earth. He managed 
things on a scale of unexampled magnificence, and it is our 
good fortune that he lived to tell his tale for our delight, 
but it is probable that he was only a preeminent member 
of a class, and that at this period there were numerous 
Muhammadans, with a curious taste in wives and a rapa- 
cious appetite for " rich presents," who wandered up and 
down the world and drew much profit from the ubiquity 
of the great religious fraternity established throughout 
the East by the Persian and Arabian merchants. 

Ibn Batuta traversed the well-worn route to China, and 
has little enough to tell us concerning the lands of south- 
eastern Asia. He was duly impressed with the number 
of the king of Champa's children, and noted the multitude 
of tame elephants used in that country. He touched 
at some point in the Malay Peninsula, which he calls 
Mul-Java, or the mainland of Java, and he spent a 
reason awaiting the change of the monsoon on the 
island of Sumatra. Here he was present at the marriage 
of the daughter of his host — the " king of Sumatra," as 
he calls him, though this potentate only ruled over a 
small portion of the island — and the account which he 
gives of the ceremony might have been written by an 



40 FURTHER INDIA 

observer of a modern Malay wedding, a striking proof, 
were proof needed, of the extraordinary conservatism of 
this people. For the rest he has nothing new to tell us 
concerning these regions, though he shows us incidentally 
that ships still adhered as of old to the few well-known 
ports of call and rarely strayed far beyond the beaten 
track which had been in use for centuries. 

Friar John de' Marignolli, a Franciscan like Odoric, 
was born in Florence between 1280 and 1290. In 
December, 1338, he was sent from Avignon on a mission 
to the Great Kaan, and travelled overland to China, 
returning to India via Zayton and the Malay Archipelago 
in 1346 or 1347. Beyond the bare fact that he left 
Zayton and eventually arrived at Columbum (Quilon) he 
tells us absolutely nothing, but after some travels in India 
he paid a visit to an island which he names Saba, and 
clearly imagines it to be the same as the Saba of the 
Scriptures. The island, we learn, was so far to the south 
that the polar star was no longer visible ; it was ruled by 
women ; its queen possessed a fine palace, the walls of 
which were decked with historical pictures ; there was a 
huge mountain on the island, and there were beasts in 
its forests nearly resembling human beings; elephants 
were in use, especially among the women ; a few Chris- 
tians lived there, and when he quitted its shores he was 
storm driven into a port of Ceylon. These are all the 
data which we have concerning Friar John's Saba, and it 
has been identified with Java by Meinert, and with the 
Maldives by Professor Kunstmann. Colonel Yule has 
shown that this latter theory is untenable, and declines 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 41 

to accept Java as the true identification because it is 
impossible to show that female government ever prevailed 
upon that island. He has, however, no alternative sug- 
gestion to make, and ends by giving the puzzle up as 
hopeless. To me, however, it seems that the best case 
can be made out for north Borneo, the native name of 
which is Sabah. The name alone would be of no sort of 
importance ; but its position satisfies the friar's astronomical 
requirements ; it is dominated by the magnificent mountain 
of Kinabalu, round which still cluster many of the super- 
stitions of the natives, superstitions which the pious monk 
might very easily identify, as in truth he does, with 
traditions of Elias and the Magi ; the jungles in which the 
mayaSy or ourang-outang, abound may well be said to 
contain " monsters " with faces like men ; while tame 
elephants were plentiful in Brunei when Magellan's ships 
visited the place in the sixteenth century, and the forests 
of northern Borneo are the only part of the island in 
which these animals now run wild. More important than 
4II, however, is the fact that among the Dusun tribes, 
which compose the larger proportion of the natives of 
northern Borneo, women occupy a peculiar position and 
influence. This is mainly due to a belief that the world 
— which the Dusuns rightly regard as a very imperfect 
piece of work — was created by the goddess Sinemundu 
during the temporary absence of her husband, Kin- 
horingan, who had designed a flawless universe, and a 
woman having thus brought the earth into being, it is 
felt to be right that women should manage the spiritual 
affairs of the creatrix's world. Priesthood, therefore, and 



42 FURTHER INDIA 

not infrequently, the chieftainship of a tribe, are vested 
among these people in the women, and this may well be 
a relic of female sovereignty such as is described by Friar 
John. The palace, if such a building ever existed in 
northern Borneo, has utterly disappeared, together with 
its paintings, but there is evidence to show that this part 
of the island has sensibly degenerated in its arts and in 
the standard of its civiHsation, while its population has 
dwindled and become debased, ever since its rediscovery 
by the Spaniards less than four hundred years ago. 
Nor need we experience much surprise that all tradition 
concerning the existence of a kingdom of such magnitude 
and importance as that described by Friar John should 
have vanished so speedily from the memories of the 
Borneans, for historical facts of a far more recent date, 
which are preserved for us in the writings of the European 
travellers of the sixteenth century, have also passed into 
oblivion, leaving among the natives of the island not so 
much as a whisper of story. In the semi-uncivilised 
lands of Asia dynasties have risen, have flourished, have 
come to proud maturity, have dwindled, pined and dis- 
appeared with a wonderful rapidity, and when the waves 
of time have closed over them they are forgotten with a 
completeness which finds few parallels in Europe. It is 
possible that the dense forests of northern Borneo may 
even yet yield up to us some traces of the wonderful 
palace which filled the Franciscan monk with awe and 
admiration. The difificulty of the return voyage which 
saw the monk's ship storm driven into a port of Ceylon 
need not greatly trouble us. A traveller, who fared from 



MEDIEVAL WANDERERS 43 

China to Malabar without saying a single word concern- 
ing the places at which he touched upon the way, may 
be supposed capable of passing through the Straits of 
Malacca, or even through those of Sunda, on his way 
from Saba to India, without making any particular men- 
tion of the fact. 

With Friar John and his mysterious island we take 
leave of the portion .of our enquiry in which from the 
outset we have found ourselves groping through a fog of 
doubt and of conjecture. We have noted the frequency 
with which the sea-route to China was used by men of 
numerous races from very early times, and the compara- 
tively exact information concerning the Far East which 
from time to time was brought home by wanderers re- 
turning to the West. It is, therefore, a matter of 
considerable surprise to find that when these regions were 
rediscovered by the Portuguese and Spaniards in the six- 
teenth century they were regarded by the whole of 
Europe as worlds undreamed of. The scant knowledge 
possessed by the ancients of India extra Gangem and of 
the Chersonesus Aurea * had been practically forgotten ; 
the more accurate and detailed information supplied by 
Marco Polo and his successors had been dismissed as in- 
credible, or had been scorned as the purest inventions 
born of unruly or disordered imaginations ; the immense 
force of Islam had reared a wall between Europe and 
Asia which for a long period the former was powerless to 
scale. Even the Book of Messer Marco himself had 
come to be regarded as a piece of mere fiction, and ac- 
cordingly by the time the first Portuguese vessels made 



44 FURTHER INDIA 

their way round the Cape of Good Hope, seeking a new 
highroad to India, the minds of even the learned of 
Europe presented something Hke a tabula rasa upon 
which was inscribed none of the facts concerning south- 
eastern Asia that had been collected by the geographers 
and mariners of antiquity, which had been added to by 
many Arabian writers, and which had received detailed 
confirmation from the European wanderers of the Mid- 
dle Ages. It is in the coming of the Portuguese, there- 
fore, that the exploration of Malaya and of Indo-China 
by the peoples of the west may properly be said to have 
had its beginning. 



CHAPTER III 

THE COMING OF THE FILIBUSTERS 

IT was in November, 1497, that Vasco da Gama, 
after those two desperate beatings to seaward and 
tacks to the south which have made him famous, ' 
during which he faced and overcame, not only the fury 
of the elements, but the fears and the mutinous murmur- 
ings of his com.rades, came at last to land on the eastern 
shores of southern Africa. The story of the last great 
tack is told to us by Caspar Correa in a fashion which 
leaves a wonderful picture upon our memories, and his 
words may fittingly be quoted here. 

" As he (da Gama) was a very choleric man, at times 
with angry words he made them silent, although he well 
saw how much reason they had at every moment to 
despair of their lives : and they had been going for about 
two months on that tack, and the masters and pilots 
cried out to him to take another tack ; but the captain 
major did not choose, though the ships were now letting 
in much water, by which their labours were doubled, be- 
cause the days were short and the nights long, which 
caused them increased fear of death ; and at this time 
they met with such cold rains that the men could not 
move. All cried out to God for mercy upon their souls, 
for now they no longer took heed of their lives. It now 
seemed to Vasco da Gama that the time was come for 

45 



46 FURTHER INDIA 

making another tack, and he comported himself very 
angrily, swearing that if they did not double the Cape, 
he would stand out to sea again as many times until the 
Cape was doubled, or there should happen whatever 
should please God. For which reason, from fear of this, 
the masters took much more trouble to advance as far as 
they could ; and they took more heart on nearing the 
land, and escaping from the tempest of the sea : and all 
called upon God for mercy, and to give them guidance, 
when they saw themselves out of such great dangers. 
Thus approaching the land, they found their labour less, 
and the seas calmer, so they went on running for a long 
time, steering so as to make the land and ease the ships, 
which they were better able to do at night when the cap- 
tain slept, which the other ships did also, as they followed 
the lantern which Vasco da Gama carried : at night the 
ships showed lights to one another so as not to part com- 
pany. Seeing how much they had run, and did not find 
the land, they sailed larger so as to make it ; and as they did 
not find it, and the sea and wind were moderate, they 
knew that they had doubled the Cape ; on which great 
joy fell upon them, and they gave great praise to the 
Lord on seeing themselves delivered from death. The 
pilots continued to sail more free, spreading all the sails ; 
and running in this manner, one morning they sighted 
some mountain peaks which seemed to touch the 
clouds ; at which their pleasure was so great that they all 
wept with joy, and all devoutly on their knees said the 
Salver 

It is true that Vasco da Gama was not the first of the 



THE FILIBUSTERS 47 

Portuguese mariners to double the Cape of Good Hope, 
the feat having already been performed by John Infante 
and Bartholomew Dias, and that da Gama had with him 
pilots who had sailed with these captains. It is true also 
that da Gama, unlike Magellan and Columbus, was not 
the originator of the design which it fell to his lot to 
carry into effect, and that he owes his fame, less to his 
own adventuresome spirit and to his individual enterprise 
and initiative, than to the happy accident of his selection 
by the King of Portugal for the post of captain-major of 
the pioneering fleet. All this must be admitted, but 
nothing can weaken the impression which we receive 
from Correa's narrative of the dogged strength, the grim 
resolution, the unshakable courage, moral and physical 
of the man. The ships held upon that cruel two-months' 
tack, through angry seas, through cold and tempest, with 
seams gaping under the long strain, with crews half-fam- 
ished by the bitter weather, mad afraid, and worn to 
death with weary toiling at the sails and pumps, and 
never once did they swerve from the appointed course, 
because ^' the captain-major did not choose!'' When 
every soul in all that fleet was calling upon God in his 
extremity, and was beseiging the captain with entreaties 
to abandon the desperate enterprise, he alone was de- 
termined, fearless, and answered their prayers with fierce 
threats of yet other tacks which he would take if this one 
failed to accomplish the purpose upon which his will was 
set. Here in a few words we have the man revealed to 
us, and if even in this the hour of his greatest achieve- 
ment we see traces of the ruthlessness, the absence of all 



48 FURTHER INDIA 

care or sympathy for others, which later led him into the 
commission of crimes more cruel than those of Cortez or 
Pizarro, we see also in him the embodiment, as it were, 
of the strenuous spirit of Portugal at the beginning of the 
sixteenth century — the spirit which made possible the 
miracles of conquest which then were wrought in Asia, 
the spirit which awoke that bitter, impotent hatred of the 
white men which still lingers in the East in the tradi- 
tions of a people little apt to forgive or to forget 

After Vasco da Gama had opened up the new highway 
of trade to the East which, diverting the wealth of Asia 
from its old markets on the shores of the Adriatic, ruined 
many an Italian city while it brought a hitherto un- 
dreamed of prosperity to the towns of Portugal, it be- 
came the custom for a large and well-equipped fleet to 
sail from Lisbon in the spring of each year. These 
fleets bore with them reinforcements for the white ad- 
venturers in Asia wherewith to carry on the ruthless war 
which then was raging between the newcomers and the 
ancient kingdoms of the East. They bore too large 
numbers of men fired by a desire to win for themselves 
a share of the plunder concerning which such dazzling 
accounts had reached Europe — men who, like Alexander, 
lusted after new worlds to conquer, and regarded the re- 
cently discovered lands as mere stepping-stones to wealth. 
It was in a spirit of frank brigandage that the Portuguese, 
from the highest to the lowest, swarmed into Asia. They 
were utterly without any sense of responsibility in so far 
as the lands and the men who were their appointed vie- 



THE FILIBUSTERS 49 

tims were concerned, for the belief in the mission of the 
white races to order the destinies of the East for the 
greater good of the Orientals is a comfortable doctrine 
of quite modern growth. Instead they occupied in their 
own sight something of the position of the Children of 
Israel, and never doubted but that the spoihng of the 
Egyptian must be pleasing to the God of justice and 
love. Moreover, since the Portuguese were a people of 
the Peninsula, with whom the hatred of the Moors was 
an inherited superstition, their religious faith tended to 
stimulate them to ill-doing, and was in no sense a re- 
straining influence. Many of the early adventurers were 
animated by a sincere zeal for their rehgion, and by a 
keen desire to force its acceptance upon all and sundry 
whom they might encounter, and to these the invasion 
of the East undoubtedly presented itself in the light of a 
new Crusade. The reHgious motive is found cropping 
up in the most unlikely people, and in the most gro- 
tesquely improbable circumstances, throughout the his- 
tory of the doings of the early filibusters, and the cruelty 
and ruthlessness which avarice and ambition dictated 
found their constant justification in Christian fanaticism. 
It is necessary to appreciate the existence of this double 
incentive to conquest by which the Portuguese were ani- 
mated in order to understand how it was possible for so 
much wickedness to be done under the cloak of rehgion. 
To the filibuster of the sixteenth century God fought 
ever on his side, and the stubborn fight in which he was 
engaged was battle done for the Cross. The enemy, 
therefore, was of necessity the child of the devil, and to 



so FURTHER INDIA 

such all rights of person or property were of course de- 
nied. The earth and the fulness thereof was God's gift 
to his people ; the Muhammadan or the pagan who 
chanced to be in possession was logically to be regarded 
as a usurper of the Christian's inheritance, and force or 
fraud were weapons which might be freely used in order 
to deprive him of that to which, in the sight of the Al- 
mighty, he had no just claim. It was in this spirit that 
the Papal Bulls divided the newly discovered earth be- 
tween the kings of Spain and Portugal ; it was in this 
spirit that the filibusters set to work to give effect to 
those sweeping decrees ; and it was in this spirit that 
deeds were wrought in Asia which have done more than 
aught else to rear up between the brown and the white 
races barriers which few, even in our own day, have the 
tact, the patience, the sympathy or the energy to sur- 
mount. 

With the first few fleets which sailed from Portugal 
during the years that succeeded the rounding of the 
Cape of Good Hope, we have at present no concern, 
since their goal was India, and they did not penetrate to 
the seas or ports of southeastern Asia. In 1508, how- 
ever, on April 5th, of that year, Diogo Lopez de 
Siqueira, the Chief Almotacel of the kingdom of 
Portugal, set sail as captain of four vessels with royal 
instructions to explore and conquer Malacca, a rumour 
concerning the wealth and importance of that city hav- 
ing reached the Portuguese in India, and having by 
them been reported to headquarters. A great deal has 
been made of the treachery of the Sultan of Malacca, 



THE FILIBUSTERS 51 

and of his double-dealing with Siqueira, and it is there- 
fore well to note that the latter came to his kingdom, 
not merely in the guise of a peaceful trader, as others of 
many nationalities had come before him, but with the 
deliberate design of " conquering " the land. It was 
here that the white men differed so materially from the 
Arabs, the natives of India, and the Chinese, all of 
whom had during many centuries carried on an exten- 
sive commerce in Asia. With none of these people 
were exploration and conquest synonymous terms. The 
Hindus, at a very early period, had deeply impressed 
Java, Lambok and Bali with their influence, and they 
have left an enduring mark upon the superstitious behefs 
and upon the magic practices of the Malayans. None 
the less, there is no record of anything resembling a 
Hindu invasion of these islands. Similarly the Mu- 
hammadan traders settled in the Archipelago and in the 
Malay Peninsula had succeeded, by the beginning of the 
sixteenth century, in converting the bulk of the native 
populations to the faith of Islam, but they had not 
profited by the moral and intellectual ascendency thus 
gained to wrest the reins of government from the rulers 
of the land. The Chinese, too, after the period of the 
great Tartar invasion and the innumerable expeditions 
of Kublai Kaan, had traded freely with Persia, with 
India and with Malaya without seeking to annex an inch 
of foreign territory. The Portuguese, on the other 
hand, and many of the white nations after them, trusted, 
not so much to peaceful commerce, but to lawless pillage 
for their speedy enrichment, and the annual fleets sent 



52 FURTHER INDIA 

out from Lisbon started on nothing more nor less than a 
succession of filibustering raids. Their objects were to 
confirm the power of Portugal in the regions already 
reduced to subjection, to extend the conquest in new 
directions, and thus to squeeze the kings and the popula- 
tions of the East dry of all the wealth which they could 
be made to yield, employing for that purpose every 
device which cunning could suggest, and which force, 
courage, and an unscrupulous ruthlessness could translate 
into action. 

When Diogo Lopez de Siqueira reached Cochim he 
found the affairs of Portugal in a condition which was 
far from edifying. The viceroy for the time being was 
Dom Francisco Dalmeida, but the great Alfonso 
Dalboquerque, fresh from his furious battles in the 
Persian Gulf, claimed that the government ought to be 
handed over to him by virtue of certain documents, 
giving him the reversion of the viceroyalty, which he 
had received from the King prior to his departure from 
Portugal. Dalmeida was very loth to resign his author- 
ity to any man, least of all to Dalboquerque towards 
whom he seems to have entertained a lively feeling of 
dislike, and at the moment of the arrival of Siqueira the 
position had become extremely critical. Dalmeida, 
recognising this, thought to find a way out of his diffi- 
culties by inviting Siqueira to assume the governorship 
of the Indies, declaring that if this could be arranged he, 
Dalmeida, would forthwith set out for Portugal taking 
Alfonso Dalboquerque with him. The prudent Siqueira, 
however, would have nothing to do with any such 



THE FILIBUSTERS 53 

proposal. " Laissez moi done plantermes poisl* he said 
in effect ; for while he did his best to ingratiate himself 
with both contending factions, he pointed out that he 
had come to the East for the purpose of exploiting 
Malacca, and that his only desire was to set forth upon 
that undertaking so soon as his ships should have under- 
gone certain much needed repairs. Eventually, there- 
fore, taking with him some of the followers of Dalbo- 
querque who had incurred the anger of Dalmeida, he left 
the quarrelsome atmosphere of Cochim, and sailed 
across the Indian Ocean to the Straits. 

The Malay chronicler tells us in the Hikayat Hang 
Tuah that from the first moment of their arrival in the 
port the strangers began to abuse the hospitality ex- 
tended to them, and that having obtained a grant from 
the Sultan of as much land as could be enclosed by a 
buffalo's hide, they adopted the stratagem of the Pious 
iEneas, and cutting it into thin strips made it the bound- 
ary line for a goodly plot of ground. Upon this, so the 
chronicler tells us, they proceeded to build a formidable 
citadel whose position menaced the town and the royal 
precincts, whereupon trouble ensued. The version which 
comes to us from Portuguese sources is somewhat differ- 
ent. Here we learn that Siqueira received a warning 
from a Javanese girl, who was the mistress of one of his 
men, that treachery was meditated. This girl swam off 
to the Portuguese ships under the cover of darkness, and 
brought word that the Sultan intended to massacre the 
white men at a great banquet to which he would pres- 
ently invite them, and that when this piece of business 



54 FURTHER INDIA 

had been despatched, he would seize upon their ships. 
This inteUigence, which may quite possibly have been 
true, does not appear to have been in any way tested by 
Siqueira, who seems to have accepted it unreservedly, 
and to have acted at once with more, perhaps, of promp- 
titude than of wisdom. He sent a native man and 
woman ashore " with an arrow passed through their 
skulls " to the Sultan, " who was thus informed," de 
Barros tells us, " through his subjects that unless he kept 
a good watch the treason which he had perpetrated 
would be punished with fire and sword." The Sultan 
retaliated by arresting Ruy de Araujo, the factor, " and 
twenty other men who were on land with him attending 
to the collection of the cargo of the ships," though it is 
to be noted that the Muhammadan monarch used them 
with no such atrocious barbarity as that which the Chris- 
tian captain had practised upon his Malay victims. 

Siqueira, finding his force thus considerably dimin- 
ished, burnt two of his vessels, since he had not enough 
men to navigate them, and sailed out of Malacca, pro- 
ceeding himself direct to Portugal, after despatching a 
couple of vessels to bear the tidings of his abortive en- 
terprise to Cochim, where the great Alfonso Dalboquer- 
que was now reigning unopposed. 

The news of the check which Siqueira had received 
caused considerable annoyance to the authorities both in 
Portugal and in India, and on March I2th, 15 lO, Diogo 
Mendez de Vascon cellos with a fleet of four ships set out 
** to go and conquer Malacca." The situation in India, 
however, was at this moment so critical that Alfonso 




Alfonso Dalboquerque 

From The Commentaries of Dalboquerque, by permission of the Hakluyt Society 



THE FILIBUSTERS 55 

Dalboquerque refused to allow Vasconcellos to proceed 
upon his way, and retained him and his fleet to aid him 
in a combined attack upon Goa. The hands of the 
greatest of the Portuguese viceroys were more than 
usually full at this juncture. The coming of the filibus- 
ters had set the whole of the western coast of India in a 
flame of war ; the Portuguese settlements on the island 
of Socotra and in the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf 
were importunate in their prayers to Dalboquerque to 
come to their assistance ; and meanwhile, in distant 
Malacca, a number of white men, held in captivity by the 
Malays, were scanning the sky-line to the north hoping 
to sight the rescuing fleet for which, during so weary a 
period, they looked in vain. 

By February, 151 1, however, Goa had been retaken, 
and the Coromandel coast was for the moment cowed 
into submission, wherefore Dalboquerque had leisure at 
last to look to the more remote portions of his dominions. 
In that month, accordingly, he set out for the Straits of 
Hormuz to carry succour to those of his countrymen in 
that direction whose clamour, backed by repeated orders 
from the King to erect a fort at Aden, had distracted 
him all the time that he was too deeply engaged in India 
to be able to spare them a man or a ship. But the winds 
proved adverse, and finding that he battled with them in 
vain, Dalboquerque decided to make a virtue of necessity, 
and to turn his face towards the Straits of Malacca. 
Diogo Mendez de Vasconcellos who, it will be remem- 
bered, had been sent out for the special purpose of chas- 
tising the Sultan of their kingdom, had throughout 



56 FURTHER INDIA 

shown great restlessness under the restraint imposed 
upon him by Dalboquerque, and at last, defying the 
viceroy, he actually set sail for Malacca on his own ac- 
count. Dalboquerque, however, succeeded in recalling 
him, and as a punishment for his insubordination sent 
him back to Portugal in disgrace. Accordingly the task 
of subduing the Sultan of Malacca now fell to Dalboquer- 
que's lot without the assistance of the men actually ap- 
pointed by the King of Portugal for that purpose, and 
the viceroy set about its accomplishment in his own 
thorough fashion. 

The lawlessness which characterised the proceedings of 
the Portuguese at this period is well exemplified by the 
first incident recorded by the author of the Commentaries 
as having occurred during the voyage to Malacca. 
" When they had got as far as Ceilao (Ceylon)," he tells 
us, " they caught sight of a ship. Alfonso Dalboquerque 
gave orders to chase her, and they took her, and he was 
very glad to find that it belonged to the Guzerates, as he 
felt his voyage would now be carried out safely, for the 
Guzerates understand the navigation of those parts much 
more thoroughly than any other nations, on account of 
the great commerce they carry on in those places." 
Here we have given to us an instance of the acts of 
unprovoked piracy which the Portuguese, from the 
moment of their arrival in the East, were accustomed to 
commit as a matter of course ; and if some excuse be 
found in the fact that pilots were needed, no similar 
justification can be alleged for the capture of four other 
Guzerati vessels which Dalboquerque chased and took 




Malay Peninsula, by Waldsiemuller. Strassburg 
Ptolemy 15 13 

(Copied from the Canerio map 1502) 



THE FILIBUSTERS 57 

between Ceylon and Sumatra. The man who was 
acting in this fashion, too, was no irresponsible free- 
booter, but the Portuguese viceroy of the Indies, and 
his piracies afford us a just index to the spirit and con- 
duct of his countrymen in Asia. It is true that sea- 
brigandage in the East has been suppressed finally by 
the nations of Europe, but it is well to remember that at 
an earlier period the white men themselves were the 
most ruthless and daring of all the rovers who infested 
Asiatic waters. 

The first port touched at by Dalboquerque was that of 
Pedir in Sumatra, where he found one Joao Viegas and 
" eight Christians of the company of Ruy de Araujo, who 
had arrived thus far in their flight from the city of 
Malacca, and Joao Viegas recounted to him how the king 
of Malacca had endeavoured to force them to become 
Moors, and had ordered some of them to be tied hand 
and foot and circumcised ; and they had suffered many 
torments because they would not deny the faith of Jesus 
Christ." All of which was probably true, and was, of 
course, excessively improper, though the Sultan of 
Malacca's conduct still compares favourably with that of 
Siqueira in the matter of the arrow passed through the skulls 
of a man and a woman. Viegas also told Dalboquerque 
that " a principal Moor of Malacca," named Naodabegea, 
[Nakhoda Begak] who had instigated the Sultan to cut off 
Siqueira, and had subsequently joined with the Bendahara 
of Malacca in a plot against the throne, was even then in 
hiding in the neighbouring Sumatran kingdom of Paseh. 
To Paseh, therefore, Dalboquerque forthwith sailed, and 



58 FURTHER INDIA 

demanded that the "Moor "in question should be de- 
livered up to him, but the King of Paseh, as became a 
Malayan rajay made all manner of specious excuses, and 
professed his utter inability to lay hands on the con- 
spirator. Dalboquerque, conceiving that the hour had 
not yet come for the declaration of hostilities with the 
King of Paseh, concealed his chagrin as best he might, 
and proceeded on his way to Malacca. Chance, how- 
ever, favoured him, for he presently caught sight of a 
large native vessel, which his people captured after a hard 
fight. On board this ship they found Naodabegea him- 
self, " half dead, without any blood flowing from the 
numerous wounds which he had received. Aires Pereira 
commanded the mariners to throw him into the sea just 
as he was ; but when they perceived that he was richly 
clothed, they sought first of all to strip him, and then 
they found on his left arm a bracelet of bone, set in gold, 
and when they took this off his blood flowed away 
and he expired." The survivors of the crew informed 
Dalboquerque that " the bracelet was formed of the bones 
of certain animals which were called cabals^ that are bred 
in the mountain ranges of the kingdom of Siam, and the 
person who carries these bones so that they touch his 
flesh can never lose his blood, however many wounds he 
may receive, so long as they are kept on him." 

The term used by the natives was unquestionable 
kebal (often pronounced kabal by the Malays of Sumatra) 
which means invulnerable ^ and all they intended to con- 
vey was, we may surmise, that the bracelet was a charm 
which conferred this advantage upon its possessor, and 



THE FILIBUSTERS 59 

that it had been brought to the Peninsula from Siam. 
Such charms are worn to this day by many a warrior in 
Malayan lands. 

After taking this vessel, Dalboquerque, for some 
unexplained reason, retraced his steps towards Paseh, 
and fell in with two native ships, one from the Coramandel 
coast, which struck at once, and another from Java, which 
was only captured after a very spirited resistance, in the 
course of which the Javanese set fire to their own craft. 
On board this vessel Dalboquerque found the unfortunate 
King of Paseh, " and when he saw him," the Commentaries 
tell us " he begged his pardon very earnestly for this un- 
fortunate affair " — in truth an euphemistic way of describ- 
ing such an unprovoked act of piracy — " which should 
not have happened if he had known of his Royal High- 
ness being on board, and he showed him those cere- 
monies and that good treatment which is due to a 
personage of such dignity." Dalboquerque also promised 
to aid the king in subduing certain of his rebellious sub- 
jects, — an engagement which cost him nothing since he 
never intended to keep it — and he then continued his 
voyage to Malacca, capturing a " very rich junk " upon 
the way. 

He had already pillaged five Guzerati ships between 
Ceylon and the port of Pedir; between Paseh and 
Malacca he had taken three, one belonging to the 
Coramandel coast, one manned by men from Java, and a 
third whose ownership and nationality are unknown. 
This was sufficient to spread the evil reputation of the 
strangers far and wide throughout the seas of south- 



6o FURTHER INDIA 

eastern Asia, and to set all the countries bordering them 
on the defensive, while he now meditated a more 
decisive stroke — the conquest of Malacca, which then 
was the head and front of all the Malayan kingdoms — 
having for his object the establishment of the power of 
Portugal in the very centre of the commerce of all the 
eastern Archipelago. 

Such then was the first coming of the European 
fihbusters, with which began the real exploration of the 
lands of southeastern Asia, — lands which were destined, 
with hardly an exception, to fall under the dominion of 
the white peoples, lands in which, after a weary period 
of suffering and of strife, the men of the brown and yellow 
races were to watch their birthrights pass into the keep- 
ing of the strangers. 

It was in dramatic fashion that Dalboquerque made 
his entry into the harbour of Malacca — the entry of the 
white men into the inviolate lands which destiny had 
marked for their possession. It was about the hour of 
sundown, the author of the Chronicles tells us, and to 
one who knows the Malay Peninsula that phrase conjures 
up at once a vivid picture. The merciless heat of the 
tropic day was passed ; a grateful coolness, which yet 
carries with it a suggestion of melancholy, of spent 
energies, of exhaustion, had succeeded. The sun lay 
upon the horizon out yonder in the direction of Sumatra, 
with great banks of resplendent cloud grouped about it ; 
enormous fan-shaped rays of light stretched upward from 
it till they attained the very summit of the heavens, 










3 >. 

I- 

•o 5 
^ o 




THE FILIBUSTERS 6i 

which stained with every tint of scarlet and purple and 
gold, showed here and there little inlets of an ethereal 
azure. Beneath that glory in the skies, the sea, steel- 
blue under the gathering darkness, heaved gently, mo- 
notonously, as a weary sleeper draws his breath, a ruddy 
sheen marking the furrows between wave and wave. To 
the landward the native town clung to the beach, 
swarmed up the sides of small conical hills, and fell away 
into the heavy forest inshore. Near its centre rose a 
rude stone building surrounded by a wall draped in 
crowding creepers, but for the rest the place was a hud- 
dle of thatched roofs, rising at all angles, sloping 
unevenly, set in all directions without order or arrange- 
ment, with a blue haze of smoke hanging above 
them in the motionless air. In the harbour itself 
junks from China, sharp-nosed prahus from Java or the 
Archipelago, and fishing-smacks innumerable lay at 
anchor, and on the yellow stretch of sand before the 
town, crowds of men and women strolled listlessly, 
chaffering with the fisherfolk, and enjoying the peace 
and the coolness after the burden of the day and the 
heats. 

That scene had been enacted daily, repeated in this 
unchanging climate each succeeding evening for years. 
It may be witnessed to-day down to its last least detail 
in the capital of Trengganu which, like ancient Malacca, 
lies upon the seashore, and as I have sat watching it in 
this former place, whither as yet the tide of the white 
man's invasion has not yet attained, it has seemed to me 
that I have looked back through the centuries upon the 



62 FURTHER INDIA 

Malayan lands which as yet were free from the aggression 
of the filibusters of Portugal. 

But this evening the beach was thronged more 
densely than was common, and there was withal a subtle 
restlessness, a tenseness of expectancy in the air. Word 
had reached Malacca of the approach of the mysterious 
strangers from afar, the men with the bearded faces and the 
corpse-like complexions, the rumour of whose evil doings 
on the Coramandel coast had carried into the remotest 
corners of the East. The besetting peril was at hand, 
even at the gates of the city, but how it might be 
averted, stayed or met were problems surpassing the wis- 
dom of the wisest. 

And then, before the last of the daylight died, as the 
mobs of gaily clad natives stood upon the shores, op- 
pressed by fear, restless with suspense, their dark faces 
darker in the gathering gloom, suddenly the West was 
upon them ere they well knew it. The fleet of Dal- 
boquerque, " all decked with flags, and the men sounding 
their trumpets," swept into sight from behind the shelter- 
ing islands to the north, the great bellying squares of 
strangely rigged canvas catching the faint breeze. On 
and on it came, inevitable as Fate, the Power of the 
West sailing into the heart of Malaya unresisted and ir- 
resistible, and with panic in its heart the East stood in 
impotence watching it from the shore. One by one the 
vessels came to anchor, and then from all there roared a 
salvo of artillery, the salute of the white men to their 
victims, an explosion that broke upon the peace of the 
quiet scene and sounded the knell of the brown man's 



THE FILIBUSTERS 63 

free enjoyment of the lands which God had given to 
him. 

We of this latter age know how much, in the fulness of 
time, the rule of the white man had served to ease the 
burden of the peoples of the Malay Peninsula at least ; 
but none the less there is something infinitely pathetic in 
the contemplation of this rude breaking in of the strangers 
from the West, the hard and restless workers, upon the 
indolent peace of these ease-loving peoples ; the thought 
of the storm-torn ships from distant Portugal sailing in- 
solently into this quiet haven while the dusky men of the 
East stood gazing at them fearfully from the shore, see- 
ing in their coming a sure presage of what the future 
held for them and for their children. 

Upon the arrival of Dalboquerque there followed 
negotiations of the usual wolf-and-lamb character. The 
Sultan of Malacca made haste to send a messenger to 
the Portuguese viceroy, asking why he had come with so 
great an armament, declaring that he had, poor soul, no 
keener desire than to live on terms of amity with the King 
of Portugal, " and giving him to know that the Bendara 
(Bendahara) had been put to death on account of his 
compHcity in the rising which had taken place against 
the Portuguese captain (Diogo Lopez de Siqueira) who 
had come to that port, and had resulted in the murder of 
the Christians who were there in the land, but this was no 
fault of his." The author of the Commentaries char- 
acterises this pathetic attempt to delay the inevitable as 
an " artful apology," and tells us that the great Alfonso 



64 FURTHER INDIA 

** dissembled with " the Sultan in the hope that he might 
by that means get Ruy de Araujo and the other Chris- 
tians — who, by the same token, do not appear to have 
been murdered — into his hands, and so into safety, before 
he delivered his contemplated assault upon the town. 
The unfortunate Sultan, however, who saw in the posses- 
sion of hostages the only lever by the aid of which he 
could hope to bring pressure to bear upon the intruders, 
replied that he could not regard the surrender of the 
prisoners as a condition precedent to peace. He was 
fully prepared to hand them over to Dalboquerque, but 
pleaded that an agreement of friendship should in the 
first instance be ratified between himself and the repre- 
sentatives of the King of Portugal. In the circumstances 
this can only be regarded as a stipulation dictated by 
common prudence, the more so when the reputation 
which the Portuguese had earned for themselves in Asia 
be remembered, but this attempt to " curb the spirit of 
Alfonso Dalboquerque," as his chronicler calls it, served 
only to precipitate the doom of Malacca. 

The author of the Commentaries pretends that Dal- 
boquerque at this time was really averse from war, and 
would have been well contented if a peaceful settlement 
could have been arrived at. But viewing the matter im- 
partially, we are forced to accept the conclusion that war 
was intended from the first, and that the only object of 
the preliminary parleys was the removal of the captives 
from the power of the enemy before matters were pushed 
to an extremity. The pious Alfonso, we are told, seeing 
that the Sultan remained firm and that he was preparing 



THE FILIBUSTERS 65 

himself as best he might to repel an attack, arrived at the 
comfortable conclusion that " this was a judgment that 
had come upon the king, and that Our Lord desired to 
make an end of him for good and all, and to cast the 
Moors and the very name of Mafamede, out of the land, 
and to have his Gospel preached in these regions, and 
their mosques transformed into houses of God's praise by- 
means of the King D. Manuel and by the labours of his 
subjects, so he gave orders for an attack with armed 
boats and two large barges with heavy bombards, with 
the object of viewing the men who raUied at the alarm, 
and seeing where they had stationed their artillery, and 
how they managed their defence." For your Portuguese 
filibuster of the sixteenth century, while he recognised 
the awful finger of God guiding him in even his most 
unjustifiable actions, took care that it should lose nothing 
of its force through any neglect on his part to " keep his 
powder dry." 

All being now ready, and the mind of the great Al- 
fonso determined upon war, councils were held, plans 
laid, the scheme of attack explained, and two hours be- 
fore daybreak on the feast of St. James, July 25th, 151 1, 
a trumpet on board the viceroy's ship called the men of 
Portugal to arms. The force which consisted, according 
to the chroniclers, of only 800 Portuguese and 200 na- 
tives of Malabar armed with swords and shields, was di- 
vided into three bodies which delivered a simultaneous 
assault upon the northern and southern quarters of the 
city, and upon the bridge by which they were connected. 
Sounding their trumpets, and shouting their war-cry of 



66 FURTHER INDIA 

Sanctiago f (St. James !) the Portuguese rushed to the 
attack, " and on this," says de Barros, " the air was rent 
with a confusion of noises, so that the trumpets, the can- 
non, and the shouts could not be distinguished from one 
another, the whole forming a doomsday of fear and 
terror." 

The Malays and the Muhammadan traders who fought 
with them resisted stoutly, though the mosque and many 
of the stockades were won from them, and the white men 
began to entrench themselves upon the ground gained. 
All day long the battle waged, and the Portuguese toiled 
at the construction of their defences under the merciless 
Malayan sun, but gloss it over though they will, the 
chroniclers are forced to admit that in the end the assault 
failed, and that by nightfall all the Europeans had been 
obliged to withdraw to their ships, bearing many dead 
and wounded with them. 

One cannot but marvel at the stubborn courage of 
these filibusters, battling here under a tropical sun at a 
distance of thousands of miles from their base ; bearding 
the mightiest of the kings of Malaya in his very strong- 
hold ; and daring to oppose their puny numbers to the 
fighting strength of a town whose population was esti- 
mated at 100,000 souls. It was a stupendous enterprise, 
almost insolent in its scorn of opposing odds, and no 
parallels to it are found in history save in the story of 
the European conquests of the earth. The supreme self- 
confidence which alone could inspire such audacity as 
this, the reckless courage, and the pride which held the 
power of the enemy so cheap, no less than the wonderful 



THE FILIBUSTERS 67 

energy which made success a possibiHty, would seem to 
be quaUties which are developed to the full only in the 
European character, which can be communicated to the 
Oriental only when he is upheld by the leadership of 
white men in whom he trusts. If the traditional reward 
of the meek has fallen to the lot of the white nations, it 
is not through meekness that they have inherited the 
earth. 

After the first abortive assault upon Malacca there fol- 
lowed a period of nine days during which Dalboquerque 
instituted a rigorous blockade of the place with a view to 
starving it into submission. Once more the slender band 
of Portuguese adventurers flung itself at the teeming na- 
tive city, and this time the bridge, which was throughout 
the key to the entire position, was wrested from the Ma- 
lays, and they and their allies were routed. On each oc- 
casion the Sultan of Malacca had himself taken an active 
part in the fighting, and in the melee the elephant upon 
which he was mounted was badly hurt, whereupon, says 
de Barros, " feeling the pain of its wound, it seized the 
negro that guided it with its trunk, and dashed him to 
the ground, on which the king, wounded in the hand, 
dismounted, and not being recognised, effected his es- 
cape." And thus Malacca fell, and passed for ever out 
of the keeping of the Malays, though it was destined to 
be reft from Portugal by Holland, from Holland by 
Great Britain, to be surrendered once more to the Dutch 
for a little space, and to come finally into the hands of 
England. 

" In this second time of taking the city," says the 



68 FURTHER INDIA 

author of the Commentaries ^ " many of our men were 
wounded, and some of those who were wounded with 
poison died, but all the others were cured, because 
Alfonso Dalboquerque took very good care to give 
orders for their cure, and of the Moors, women and 
children, there died by the sword an infinite number, for 
no quarter was given to any of them." 

The city having now fallen into his hands, and being, 
as Dalboquerque rightly foresaw, the beginning of yet 
another empire in the East, he next set himself, with all 
his accustomed energy, ruthlessness, shrewdness and 
wisdom, to the task of consolidating the power of 
Portugal in the newly won possession. 

Order was also taken for the organisation of the gov- 
ernment of Malacca ; a coinage was instituted ; a gov- 
ernor was appointed; and the Javanese headman, 
Utemutaraja, a man of ninety years of age, and his 
sons, being suspected of a conspiracy against the 
conquerors, were publicly executed by way of a salutary 
example to all malcontents. It was their sheer ruthless- 
ness, and their complete freedom from the trammels of a 
too exacting sense of justice that alone enabled the 
Portuguese to hold what they had gotten, and to rule 
teeming native populations, bound to them by no con- 
sciousness of benefits received, who were simply cowed 
into submission. But it is to these qualities and to the 
methods whose adoption followed from them that the 
eventual loss by Portugal of the bulk of her colonial 
empire is to be traced. She made no friends in Asiatic 
lands, and when in the fulness of time her European 



THE FILIBUSTERS 69 

enemies fell upon her, the men of the brown races, her 
power over whom she had abused, watched her defeat 
with jubilant satisfaction, and raised none save reluctant 
hands in her defence. 

But in another direction Dalboquerque showed a 
sounder and more far-seeing policy. Before the second 
assault had been delivered, he had allowed the Chinese 
junks, of which mention has already been made, to 
start for Canton, only exacting from them a promise 
that they would put in on their way at the port 
of Siam. With these traders he despatched one 
Duarte Fernandez, who had escaped from the cap- 
tivity which he had shared with Ruy de Araujo 
and his fellows in Malacca, to act as his ambassa- 
dor at the Siamese Court. This man was the first 
European of whom we have any record to visit the 
ancient capital of Ayutha, some miles further up the 
Menam River than the modern city of Bangkok, and 
thus from the fall of Malacca begins also the earliest 
exploration of Siam by men of the white races. 

The rumour of the daring deeds wraught by the 
Portuguese in Asia had already spread far and wide, 
travelling with that marvellous speed which is one of the 
stock wonders of the East, and the King of Siam, be- 
tween whose subjects and the Malays no love was ever 
yet lost, hastened to send a return embassy to Dalbo- 
querque, to wish him all success in his adventures in 
Malacca, and to cement a friendship between the white 
men and the Court of Ayutha. Dalboquerque in reply 
despatched a second mission to Siam under one Antonio 



70 FURTHER INDIA 

de Miranda, who seems to have sailed round the Malay 
Peninsula as far as Trengganu (Taranque) on the east 
coast, whence he made his way to Ayutha overland 
*• with horses and draft oxen." Beyond the bare fact 
that this journey was undertaken no record of it has 
been preserved to us, but even in our own time it would 
be long and arduous, and the traveller would have to 
make his way, mainly by means of the seashore which 
here is for the most part sandy, through Kelantan, 
Legeh, Petani, and Senggora into Lower Siam, and so 
along the Isthmus of Kra to the Valley of the Menam. 
It is difficult to believe that such a journey was really 
performed by a white man as early as the year 1 5 1 1 or 
1 5 1 2, the more so since sailing craft of many types and 
various sizes abound on this coast, and afford far 
superior means of transport to any which in the same 
regions are found ashore. There is one fact, however, 
which lends vraisemblance to the account given to us by 
the author of the Com^nentaries concerning the route 
followed by Antonio de Miranda. The mission to 
Ayutha would seem to have started from Malacca 
shortly before Dalboquerque himself set out on his 
return to India, that is to say in the autumn of 15 1 1, 
and by that season the northeast monsoon would have 
begun to make itself felt. Miranda sailed with the 
Chinese junks as far as Trengganu, and it is almost 
certain that by the time he reached that port the strong 
headwinds would have made further navigation to the 
northward impossible to native vessels. He would then 
have to make his choice between wintering in Trengganu 



THE FILIBUSTERS 71 

and undertaking the arduous march to Ayutha overland, 
and as the men of his race and age were Httle apt to be 
daunted by obstacles, we may perhaps conclude that he 
decided upon the latter alternative. If this be so, we 
must hail Antonio de Miranda, who to us is nothing but 
a name, as the first if the least articulate of the European 
explorers of Lower Siam and a portion of the Malay 
Peninsula. 

The noise which the invasion of Malacca had oc- 
casioned had not been without its effect upon other 
kingdoms of Malaya, and before ever Dalboquerque 
sailed for India, embassies reached him from the Sultan 
of Kampar, whose kingdom was situated on the western 
shores of Sumatra, who, though he was a son-in-law of 
the ill-fated Sultan Muhammad Shah, was moved by his 
fear of " the fury of the Portuguese " to make terms for 
himself with the conquerors. From Java too came 
overtures of friendship, dictated by the wholesome dread 
which the prowess of the Portuguese had inspired, and 
the Sultan of the Sumatran kingdom of Menangkabau 
hastened to follow the example set by his neighbours. 
Thus Dalboquerque's design to build up Malacca as the 
centre of trade in southeastern Asia, preserving under 
the flag of Portugal the position which it had occupied 
under the rule of its own kings, — a design which he had 
kept steadily in view from the first — was accomplished 
with little difficulty, and the conquest of this single port 
served to establish the power of the aliens upon a firm 
basis in this region, and through the prestige it brought 
to them secured immediately a pohtical and commercial 



72 FURTHER INDIA 

superiority such as had never before been enjoyed by 
any single kingdom of Malaya. 

One other thing was done by the great Alfonso ere he 
turned back to India and to the warfare which awaited 
him at Goa. He despatched a fleet of three ships, under 
the command of Antonio Dabreu, who had received 
wounds and earned distinction in the assault upon the 
bridge at Malacca, upon a voyage of discovery in the 
Malayan Archipelago. " And the instructions which 
Alfonso Dalboquerque gave to Antonio Dabreu, were, 
on no account whatever on that voyage to take any 
prizes, and to go on board of no vessel whatever, nor to 
consent to any of his men going on shore, but in all the 
harbours and in all the islands at which he might touch 
to give presents and gifts to the kings and lords of the 
country, and for this purpose he ordered there should be 
given out many pieces of scarlet and velvets of Meca, 
and many other kinds of merchandise ; and, further, he 
gave orders that the captains should not interfere with a 
single ship of Malacca or of the other ports (whether they 
belonged to the Moors or to the Hindoos) which he might 
meet with in these Clove islands (t. e., the Moluccas) or 
Apple islands taking in cargo, but rather show them 
favour and give them as much assistance as he possibly 
could ; and in the same way that such ships as these ne- 
gotiated for their cargo, so also in like manner was he to 
act for his cargo, observing all the customs of the re- 
spective countries." From which it will be seen that the 
great Alfonso added the wisdom of a statesman to the 
reckless daring of a filibuster, and that on occasion even 



THE FILIBUSTERS 73 

his religious zeal could yield to considerations of 
policy. 

We possess, unfortunately, no details concerning Da- 
breu's voyage, though there seems to be some reason to 
believe that he penetrated sufficiently far to the south- 
east to lay up his ships for refitting at the island of Am- 
boyna, which lies to the south of the western extremity 
of the island of Ceram. This would lead us to the infer- 
ence that the southern coast of Borneo was skirted by 
Dabreu's fleet, and that the islands of the Celebes and 
Molucca groups were visited and explored in so far, at 
any rate, as their principal ports were concerned. More- 
over, if Dalboquerque's instructions were obeyed, this 
voyage of exploration was conducted with a policy and 
in a spirit which were little common among the adven- 
turers of the early sixteenth century, its object being to 
attract trade to Malacca instead of the commission of 
acts of piracy and pillage, wherefore the Portuguese, who 
had earned a great reputation as warriors, must have 
been free from molestation, and since they were in no 
aggressive mood must have sailed whither they would 
without let or hindrance. This voyage, then, although 
we possess such scant details concerning it, is an event 
of importance in the history of exploration in south- 
eastern Asia, and to its pacific character is largely to be 
attributed the rapidity with which during the succeeding 
fifty years the Portuguese traders spread themselves 
through the ports of Malaya, a matter which we shall 
have to examine more particularly in the following 
chapter. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE EXPLORATIONS OF THE PORTUGUESE 

THE circumstances which led to the establish- 
ment of the Portuguese Power in Malacca have 
been examined in the preceding chapter with a 
minuteness which is only warranted by the fact that this 
event marks, as has been already observed, the beginning 
of a new epoch in the exploration of southeastern Asia. 
Over the explorations which followed upon the settle- 
ment of Malacca we shall now have to pass with much 
less of detail and particularity, partly because consider- 
ations of space forbid more elaborate treatment of this 
single portion of our subject, and partly because the 
records of many wanderings are lost to us, while those 
which exist are too often of a very fragmentary 
character. 

From the despatch by Dalboquerque of embassies to 
Siam, to Java and to several Sumatran kingdoms, and 
from the launching by him of the exploring fleet to the 
Moluccas, dates the gradual founding of commercial posts 
by white adventurers throughout southeastern Asia and 
the Malayan Archipelago. Malacca stood to each of 
these as a base of operations ; the prestige of Malacca 
served to protect isolated outposts and individual traders ; 
and the rumour of the wealth which was to be won in 
these regions speedily caused a host of hungry folk to 

74 



THE EXPLORATIONS 75 

quit Portugal in a continuous stream which poured 
unchecked into the distant East. Riches, rather than 
power, were the lure which tempted these men away 
from their fatherland, and in the pursuit of their object 
no difficulties or hardships sufficed to daunt them, no 
humanitarian considerations placed restraint upon their 
actions, and no regard for the rights of person or prop- 
erty vested in their Oriental victims served to shackle 
their lawlessness or their Hcence. They kept faith with 
no man, not even with their native allies ; no sense of 
honour or love of fair-dealing actuated them in their in- 
tercourse with the Asiatics, whether questions of policy 
or of trade were in point ; the cruelties which, on occa- 
sion, they committed, can only be recalled with horror ; 
their avarice and cupidity were at once shameless and 
insatiable ; and with very few exceptions they abused 
their power and their positions, seeking none save ig- 
noble, selfish ends. Therefore it is an ugly chapter in 
the history of the relations of Europe with the East that 
holds the record of their doings — doings which have be- 
queathed a legacy of hatred the force of which is not yet 
wholly spent. But, through all and in spite of all, it is 
impossible to withhold from these men the tribute that is 
due to a dauntless courage and a tremendous self-reli- 
ance, or to divest them, squaHd though many of their 
actions were, of the cloak of romance which must ever 
cling about the memories of those who adventured 
greatly. 

Even in the heyday of their extraordinary success the 
Portuguese in Asia never had at their back the advantage 



76 FURTHER INDIA 

of numbers. They were always a tiny band of aliens bat- 
tering upon the face of the ancient East, severed by 
countless miles from their base in Europe, often, in indi- 
vidual cases, cut off entirely from the support of their 
countrymen. The unshaken conviction in the innate su- 
periority of the white man over the bulk of mankind, 
which gives to our people to-day so immense a moral 
force, was at that time a thing of very recent growth, a 
belief founded upon a barely proved experience, a theory 
that was still in the testing. Yet in the face of all disad- 
vantages, numerical, physical, moral, the Portuguese by 
the end of the year 15 15 — the date which saw the pass- 
ing away of the strenuous soul of the great Alfonso Dal- 
boquerque — had made good their footing in Asia, not 
only as a new, but in some sense as a dominant power. 
. " At the time of the death of Alfonso Dalboquerque," 
writes the author of the Commentaries, " peace was uni- 
versal from Ormuz to Ceylon ; and all the kingdoms of 
Cambay, Chaul, Dabul, Goa, Onor, Baticala to Mount de 
Deli, Cananor, Ciacoulao and the Cape of Comorin — all 
the kings and lords and marine merchants — and the in- 
terior lands he left so quiet and well-ordered that there was 
never a nation left so completely conquered and subdued by 
force of arms as this was. And the land had by this time 
become so pacified that the Portuguese used to carry on 
their merchant business in every place, without being 
robbed of anything or being taken captive ; and they used 
to navigate the whole of the Indian Sea in their ships, 
vessels, small or large zambucos, and used to crosd the sea 
in safety from one part to the other ; and the natives, on 



THE EXPLORATIONS 77 

their part, used to visit Goa with their wares without mo- 
lestation being offered to them. And from the Cape of 
Comorin eastward Alfonso Dalboquerque left the kings 
of those countries in perfect peace and friendship with 
the King of Portugal, sending to them ambassadors bear- 
ing presents in his name, and they sent similarly to him. 
Among these I may name the King of Pegu, the King of 
Siam, the King of Pase, and the fortress of Malacca, in 
repose. He remained also in the closest terms of peace 
with the King of China, and the King of Java, the King 
of Maluco, with the Gores, and all the other neighbour- 
ing princes were kept by him in a state of submission and 
tranquillity." 

This account, which is substantially accurate, shows the 
spread of the Portuguese power during the first fifteen 
years of the sixteenth century. It must be remembered, 
however, that trade, rather than territorial possessions, 
was the lure which tempted the Portuguese adventurers 
to the East, and that Dalboquerque, more far-seeing than 
the majority of his contemporaries, did not desire an ex- 
tensive empire so much as the command of the sea and 
the acquisition of convenient ports which might be used 
as business-centres and suitable bases for Portuguese com- 
merce with the eastern world. In Malaya, for example, 
he was content with the conquest of Malacca, which dis- 
posed once for all of a formidable rival ; and that accom- 
plished, he did his best to establish friendly relations with 
the neighbouring kings and countries. Command of the 
sea and of the trade-routes once secured, the Portuguese 
had no great hankering after inland possessions, and ac- 



78 FURTHER INDIA 

cordingly their explorations were practically confined to 
the islands and ports and the coast regions of the East. 

The Moluccas or Spice Islands, the home of the clove 
and the nutmeg, had from the first been the principal 
goal which the Portuguese adventurers were bent upon 
reaching, and Dalboquerque, as we have seen, lost no 
time in despatching an expedition to explore this archi- 
pelago as soon as Malacca had fallen. Antonio Dabreu, 
who was in command, was not the first European, how- 
ever, to visit the group. Prior to the date of Dalbo- 
querque's victory in the Malay Peninsula, the Moluccas 
had been visited by the Italian wanderer, Ludovico di 
Varthema, and by Barbosa, the former being, so far as 
our information goes, the first white man to land upon 
their shores. Dabreu returned to Malacca in 15 14 with 
all his party, except the crew of one vessel who, with 
their captain, Francisco Surao, had lost their ship at Ter- 
nate and had remained behind on that island. Pigafetta, 
the chronicler of Magellan's voyage, who was at Tidor 
during the latter months of 15 21, mentions that this man, 
whom he calls Francisco Serrano, had become the " cap- 
tain-general of the King of Tarenate when he was mak- 
ing war upon the King of Tidore," and by his prowess 
had so earned the hatred of the latter that means had 
been contrived to poison him. Pedro Alfonso de Loroso, 
another Portuguese who was living at Ternate at the time 
of Pigafetta's visit, came to see the Spaniards and told 
them, 

" That he had come to India sixteen years ago, and of 
these years he had passed ten in Moluco ; and it wcis just 



THE EXPLORATIONS 79 

ten years since these islands had been discovered by the 
Portuguese, who kept the discovery secret from us. He 
then related to us that a year, less fifteen days, had lapsed 
since a large ship had come hither proceeding from Ma- 
lacca, had gone away laden with cloves." 

From this it is evident that direct trade between the 
Portuguese of Malacca and the Molucca islands began with 
the expedition sent to the group by Dalboquerque, and 
was carried on with more or less regularity from that time 
forward. It was not, however, until after the coming of 
the Spaniards had threatened the Portuguese monopoly of 
trade with the Moluccas that any portion of the group 
was annexed by Portugal. This was formerly done after 
the appointment of Lopo Vas de Sampayo to the post of 
Portuguese Governor of the Indies in 1526. 

The enormous importance which was attached to the 
establishment of trade with this little archipelago by the 
nations of Europe is proved by the fact that, while the 
Portuguese kept the discovery of the Moluccas a close 
secret, the great voyage of Magellan had for its real and 
principal object, not the circumnavigation of the globe, 
but the opening up of a new sea-route to these precious 
islands. Pigafetta tells us that Francisco Serrano was a 
personal friend of Magellan, and that he had been instru- 
mental in instigating him to attempt a voyage to the 
Moluccas via the western route. It was because Magel- 
lan was himself a Portuguese who, having served in the 
East, was in the possession of what we should call " trade 
secrets," — among the most prized of which was a knowl- 
edge of the exact locaUty of the Moluccas — that his tak- 



8o FURTHER INDIA 

ing service with the King of Spain was regarded by his 
countrymen as an act hardly to be distinguished from 
treason. On the arrival of Magellan's fleet at Tidor the 
Spaniards felt that the real end of their journey had been 
attained, although they were still far from having com- 
pleted the circuit of the earth. 

" The pilot who had remained with us," says Pigafetta, 
" told us that there were the Moluco Islands, for which 
we gave thanks to God, and to comfort ourselves we dis- 
charged all our artillery. It need not cause wonder that 
we were so much rejoiced, since we had passed twenty- 
seven months, less two days, always in search of Moluco. 
. . . But I must say that near all these islands the 
least depth that we found was lOO fathoms, for which 
reason attention is not to be given to all that the Portu- 
guese have spread, according to whom the islands of 
Moluco are situated in seas which cannot be navigated on 
account of the shoals, and the dark and foggy atmos- 
phere." 

From which it will be gathered that a meticulous re- 
gard for truth did not fetter the Portuguese in their efforts 
to keep their rivals off what they regarded as their own 
preserves ! 

The Bull promulgated by Pope Alexander VI at the 
end of the fifteenth century, decreeing the discoveries of 
the West to Spain and those of the East to Portugal, was 
the reason which made it appear necessary to the King 
of Spain to discover a new sea-route to the Moluccas. 
The nations of Europe not only acquiesced in the Pope's 
arrangement to a surprising extent, but seem to have re- 



THE EXPLORATIONS 81 

garded the newly discovered sea-route round the Cape of 
Good Hope as in some sort the exclusive possession of the 
Portuguese. They did not recognise that the trade of 
Asia was also Portugal's peculiar property, but they seem 
to have held that if it were to be tapped by them some 
new means of getting at it must be devised. For a pe- 
riod, therefore, while all the maritime European peoples 
were fired to emulate the golden successes reaped by 
Spain and Portugal, the former tried to enlarge her field 
of operations by beating out a road to the East round 
Cape Horn and across the Pacific, while the British and 
the Dutch struggled again and again to discover a North- 
west Passage, urged thereto by the common hunger for 
the riches of the Indies. 

" The doctrine that the ocean is the common property 
of the human race," writes Mr. Albert Gray, " was as- 
serted first by Elizabeth and her bold seamen, and after- 
wards defended on legal principles by Gfrotius in his 
Mare Liberum. Owing to the disputes with the Dutch as 
to the North Sea fisheries, the doctrines of Elizabeth were 
abandoned by James, whose legal champion, Selden, re- 
plied to Grotius by his treatise, Mare Clausum. It is 
hardly necessary to add that time has been on the side of 
Grotius." 

The defeat of the great Armada in 1588, however, was 
the real death-blow dealt to the pretensions, so long ad- 
vanced by Spain and Portugal, which claimed that the 
sea was the exclusive property of certain nations, and im- 
mediately after that event the invasion of the East by the 
white races began in earnest. 



82 FURTHER INDIA 

During practically the whole of the sixteenth century, 
however, in spite of the incursion of Magellan's fleet, and 
the ascendency gained by the Spaniards after the acces- 
sion of Philip to the throne of Spain and Portugal, the 
Portuguese had the virgin field of Asia very much to 
themselves, and they took advantage of this to spread 
their outposts broad-cast throughout the East, establish- 
ing trading settlements even in China. It will be conven- 
ient, therefore, in this place to sketch in rapid outline the 
history of European intercourse with Burma, with Siam, 
and with Indo-China, from its beginning up to the time 
which saw the arrival upon the scene of the great East 
India Companies. 

A reference to Burma, called by him Mien, occurs in 
the Book of Marco Polo, though the pagodas, described 
as having " on the top, round about the balls, httle gold 
and silver bells," are the only distinctively Burmese ob- 
jects mentioned. There is no reason to believe that Polo 
himself ever visited Burma, and the honour of being the 
first white man to land in Pegu is generally attributed to 
the Venetian, Nicolo di Conti, who returned to his native 
city in 1444, after spending some five and twenty years 
wandering through Asia. He went to Racha, which is 
probably to be identified with Arakan, and thence " after 
seventeen days passing desert hills came into a cham- 
paign country." He must, therefore, have crossed the 
Arakan Yoma range, possibly by the Aeng pass, and so 
have reached the banks of the Irawadi. He speaks of 
Ava by name, and says, mistakenly, that its river is 
greater than the Ganges. The country he calls Machin 



THE EXPLORATIONS 83 

— obviously a corruption of Maha Chin, Great China, a 
term appHed by the natives of Hindustan at that time 
more or less indiscriminately to all countries lying to the 
eastward of the Gangetic valley. He also mentions the 
practice of tattooing, though he ascribes its use to women 
as well as men, which is no longer the case except among 
a few hill-tribes, and he is the first traveller to speak of 
the famous white elephant, the dust-coloured beast with 
pink eyes and unsightly skewbald patches which is in re- 
ality such a disappointing object when seen in the flesh. 
In 1496 Hieronymo da Santa Stephano, a native of 
Genoa, landed in Pegu, which he is the first European to 
call by that name, but he was prevented from visiting 
Ava by one of the many wars between the two great 
Burmese kingdoms which was at that time raging. 
Ludovico di Varthema, whom we have already named in 
connection with the Moluccas, visited Pegu about the 
same time, and speaks of bamboos — " great canes as large 
as a barrel " — and of rubies. He too mentions that war 
was in progress between Pegu and Ava at the time of his 
visit. 

After the fall of Malacca, Ruy Nunez d'Acunha was 
sent to Pegu on a friendly embassy by Dalboquerque, 
and in 1545 the redoubtable Mendez Pinto, of whose 
voyage along the coasts of Indo-China we shall have 
more to say presently, was there as a military adventurer. 
He repeats the myth which had long been current of a 
great inland lake whence flowed all the rivers of the Indo- 
Chinese peninsula — a tradition which may possibly have 
had its origin in the Lake of Tonle Sap — and he adds, 



84 FURTHER INDIA 

characteristically enough, that he had himself seen it! 
At this period there would appear to have been a con- 
siderable number of Portuguese traders and adventurers 
settled in Lower Burma, men who did their best to keep 
the trade of the country in their own hands, sought 
service under the native kings as mercenary soldiers, and 
unlike the first of the Portuguese invaders discouraged 
the missionary endeavours of their priests as calculated 
to attract white men to the place and so to interfere with 
the monopoHes they enjoyed. In spite of this, however, 
the Dominican Gaspar de Cruz visited Burma, which he 
calls " Bramer," some time between 1550 and 1560, and 
another Dominican, Bomferrus came to India from Pegu 
in 1557 after an abortive attempt to convert some of the 
inhabitants to Christianity. In 1569 a Venetian named 
Csesar Frederick was in Pegu and gave a detailed and 
interesting account of the country, and fourteen years 
later he was followed by another Venetian, Gaspare 
Balbi, a jeweller, who went to Pegu with a stock of 
emeralds. Entering the river this man anchored at 
Bassein, then called Cosmi or Cosmin, whence he made 
his way to Dagon, the modern Rangoon, via Dalla. 
Robert Fitch, the merchant of London, to whom be- 
longs the distinction of being the first Englishman to 
visit Burma, followed the same route as Balbi when he 
came to Pegu in 1 5 86. 

The accounts which all these travellers, and more 
especially Frederick and Fitch, give of the kingdom of 
Pegu, even when every deduction has been made for 
glamour and its consequent exaggeration, prove that this 



THE EXPLORATIONS 85 

empire, established on the delta of the Irawadi, was in 
the sixteenth century possessed of a might, a wealth, a 
splendour and an importance which have never since 
been approached in these regions. Even at that time, 
however, constant wars were in progress between Pegu 
and Siam, Tungu, Ava, and Arakan, in many of which 
Portuguese adventurers took an active part. During the 
campaign against Siam in 1548, a hundred and eighty 
Portuguese under James Suarez de Melo fought on the 
side of Pegu, while James Pereyra led a party of his 
countrymen under the flag of Siam. During the con- 
cluding years of the sixteenth century, however, the 
Kings of Arakan and Tungu overran Pegu and destroyed 
its power forever, and in 1600, Boves, a Jesuit priest, 
thus describes the destruction that had been wrought in 
the once prosperous kingdom. 

" It is a lamentable spectacle to see the banks of the 
rivers, set with infinite fruit-bearing trees, now over- 
whelmed with ruins of gilded temples and noble edifices ; 
the ways and fields full of skulls and bones of wretched 
Peguans, killed or famished and cast into the river in 
such numbers that the multitude of carcases prohibiteth 
the way and passage of any ships ; to omit the burnings 
and massacres committed by this, the cruellest tyrant that 
ever breathed." 

The King of Arakan is the tyrant here referred to, 
and once again Portuguese mercenaries took their share 
of the fighting. Their leader, Philip de Brito, received 
from the King of Arakan the port of Sirian as a reward 
for his services immediately after the fall of Pegu, and 



86 FURTHER INDIA 

for some years he held the position of a kind of rival 
prince, keeping the son of his benefactor as a hostage 
for whose release he demanded a ransom of 50,000 
crowns ! " He also domineereth and careth for nobodie," 
says a contemporary chronicler, and so secure to all see- 
ing was the eminence to which he had attained that his 
son married a daughter of the King of Martaban who had 
established a separate principality upon the ruins of Pegu. 
In 161 3, however, de Brito was besieged in Sirian by the 
King of Ava, and after a manful resistance was betrayed 
into the hands of his enemy. The unhappy wretch was 
impaled by the King of Ava, and actually lived two 
whole days enduring the most hideous torments. 

From this time dates the beginning of the domination 
of Ava over the whole of Burma. Tavoi was conquered, 
Tenasserim besieged, although a Portuguese outlaw of 
Cochin, Christopher Rebello, with forty of his compa- 
triots and a handful of slaves, utterly routed the fleet of 
Ava which numbered some five hundred sail. Shortly 
afterwards an alliance against Arakan was sought by the 
Court of Ava with the Portuguese, and an envoy was 
sent from Goa to conduct the negotiations. He was 
treated with the studied insults which always character- 
ised the dealings of the arrogant Burmese Court with 
foreign embassies, and nothing came of the mission. 
None the less, step by step, all the country between 
Assam on the north and Siam on the south, between the 
Bay of Bengal and the frontiers of China was absorbed 
by Ava, and though this rule was often inefficient, the 
hilly region inhabited by the sturdy tribesmen called the 



THE EXPLORATIONS 87 

Red Karins was the only part of Burma which escaped 
its domination. The Portuguese, it will be noted, had 
never during all this time acquired any territory in 
Burma, adventurers like the miserable de Brito having 
fought, not for their king and country, but for their own 
hands. The opening of factories in Burmese territory 
was the work of the British and Dutch East India Com- 
panies, and with that we shall have to deal in a later 
chapter. 

The establishment of the Portuguese in Malaya has 
already been recorded, and we can now glance rapidly at 
the history of their relations with Siam. The embassy 
sent to that country by Dalboquerque after the fall of 
Malacca has already been mentioned, and in 1 516 Manoel 
Falcao established a factory in Petani, a Malayan king- 
dom on the eastern coast of the Peninsula which was 
subject to Siamese influence, as indeed at that time were 
most of the Malay States. This trading-station quickly 
assumed considerable proportions, and when it was visited 
by Fernandez Pinto about 1540 there were, he states, 
some three hundred Portuguese living in the place, and 
Antonio de Faria was able to recruit a sufficiently numer- 
ous band of adventurers from among them when he set 
out, as will presently be related, to harry the coasts of 
Indo-China. In Siam itself the Portuguese, though they 
neither sought nor obtained any territorial possessions, 
settled in considerable numbers, and fought as mercena- 
ries against the Peguan invaders in 1548. Pinto also 
speaks of Siam as a place in which Portuguese traders 
were in the habit of seeking refuge and passing the 



88 FURTHER INDIA 

" winter," viz., the period during which the prevalence of 
the northeast monsoon rendered the China Sea difficult 
and dangerous to navigation. This commercial and un- 
official intercourse seems to have continued unchecked 
until 1633, and in 1620 the King of Siam actually sent 
to Goa and invited the Portuguese Government to take 
possession of a port upon his coast. At that time, how- 
ever, the position of Portugal in the East was becoming 
critical, and she was too busy defending what she had al- 
ready won to be able to devote her energies to the acqui- 
sition of new responsibilities. Nothing, therefore, re- 
sulted from this mission, and ten years later the Siamese 
quarrelled with the Portuguese colony, though the differ- 
ence was patched up in 1633, and in 1636 the King of 
Siam sent an embassy to the Governor of the Philippines. 
"Intercourse between Siam and the Dutch East India 
Company, however, had begun as early as 1604, and from 
that time the influence of the Portuguese in Siam began 
to wane, just as it waned in India and in Malaya when 
other white nations appeared upon the scene whose past 
held no such record of wrong as that which embittered 
the relations between the peoples of the East and the 
earliest of the western invaders. 

The first exploration of the coasts to Indo-China by 
the Portuguese would appear to have been undertaken, 
in somewhat peculiar circumstances in 1 540-41. Its 
story is related by Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, and from 
him we learn, what is to be derived also from numerous 
other sources, that the seas of southeastern Asia were by 
this time teeming with Portuguese merchants and adven- 



THE EXPLORATIONS 89 

turers. In India and at Malacca Portugal was established 
in force ; in Pegu and Tenasserim, in Petani and Siam 
she had important trading colonies ; and in writing of the 
port of Liampoo in China Pinto says of his countrymen : 

" They had there built above a thousand houses, that 
were governed by Sheriffs, Auditors, Consuls, Judges, and 
six or seven other kind of Officers, where the Notaries 
underneath the publick Acts, which they made, wrote 
thus, /, such publick Notary of this Town of Liampoo for 
the King our Sovereign Lord. And this they do with as 
much confidence and assurance, as if the place had been 
situated between Santarem and Lisbon, so that there were 
houses there which cost three of four thousand Ducates 
the building, but both they and all the rest were after- 
wards demolished for our sins by the Chineses." 

The practice of sailing direct to China from the Straits 
of Malacca, only touching where necessary to take in 
water, which, as we have seen in earlier chapters, was 
that usually adopted by mariners bound for the Far East, 
caused a settlement so important as the one here described 
to have been established in the southern provinces of the 
Celestial Empire within thirty years of the fall of Malacca, 
while even the coasts of Indo-China continued to be prac- 
tically unknown. It fell to the lot of Mendez Pinto to 
give us an account of the first detailed exploration of 
these coast-lines, and though much of the matter con- 
tained in his narrative, such as the long-winded orations 
attributed to various Orientals, obviously owe more than 
a little to this author's imagination, the general outline 
of the events which he records bears every mark of sub- 



go FURTHER INDIA 

stantial accuracy. His itinerary, with its number of ex- 
traordinary proper names, is quite impossible to follow in 
detail, but his story owes its value to the fact that it is the 
earliest extant account of the exploration of the shores 
of Indo-China by men of European race, and because it 
is illustrative to a remarkable degree of the spirit which 
animated the Portuguese at this period, of their methods, 
and of the attitude by them assumed towards the East 
and its peoples. After reading Pinto's artless book one 
is at no loss to understand why the Portuguese speedily 
became an object of such intense detestation to the na- 
tives of Asia. 

In the spring of 1 540, Pinto tells us, he was sent to 
Pahang (Pan) on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula to 
fetch a cargo which had been purchased by a native agent 
on behalf of Pedro de Faria, the Governor of the citadel 
of Malacca. During a disturbance which occurred while 
he was still in Pahang, Pinto was robbed of all the prop- 
erty in his charge, and he escaped with just his life and 
his ship, and sailed forthwith for Petani. Here he learned 
that three junks belonging to some Pahang merchants 
were lying at anchor inside the mouth of the Kelantan 
River, and though it was not suggested that they were 
the property of the ruffians who had robbed him, the fact 
that they hailed from Pahang was, in these lawless days, 
sufficient grounds for making them the objects of repris- 
als. Accordingly, the permission of the Raja of Petani 
having been obtained, the Portuguese fitted out a small 
fleet, raided the Kelantan River, captured the Pahang 
junks after a hard fight, and carried their prizes back to 



THE EXPLORATIONS 91 

Petani with all haste, " because," as Pinto naively re- 
marks, " the whole Country thereabouts was in an up- 
roar." This, it may be noted in passing, was a condition 
into which the visits of the Portuguese adventurers were 
apt to throw the native States which these gentry hon- 
oured with their attentions. 

At Petani there presently arrived Antonio de Faria, 
who was probably a relative of Pedro de Faria, the Gov- 
ernor of Malacca. He had been sent to ratify a treaty 
of friendship already existing between the Portuguese 
and the Raja, but he had brought with him a large con- 
signment of private merchandise, and since he could not 
sell it at a satisfactory profit in Petani, he sent Pinto with 
it to Ligor, a little State further to the north on the east- 
ern shores of the Malay Peninsula. Here Pinto, while 
lying outside the bar, was set upon by native pirates, 
robbed of his ship and her cargo, and only saved himself 
by swimming ashore with such of his European compan- 
ions as had survived the fight. After terrible hardships 
he made his way back to Petani, and reported what had 
befallen him to Antonio de Faria, adding the information, 
which avowedly rested upon the merest guess-work, that 
the pirate who had used him so evilly was one Coio 
Acem, — probably Dato' Kaya Akhim, or some similar 
name and title. Upon hearing this Antonio de Faria at 
once determined to put to sea in search of this marauder, 
whose act of piracy (if indeed he had committed the 
deed) had ruined the ambassador, since the captured cargo 
had been bought with money borrowed in Malacca, and 
de Faria had now no means of discharging his liabilities. 



92 FURTHER INDIA 

To US the spectacle presented by one who had been en- 
trusted by Government with a special embassy transform- 
ing himself with such suddenness into a sea-rover, appears 
incongruous enough, but such was evidently not the view 
taken by the Portuguese traders in Petani. For, says 
Pinto, 

" All the Assistants very much commended his valor- 
ous resolution, and for the execution thereof there were 
many young Soldiers among them that offered to accom- 
pany him in that voyage ; some likewise presented him 
with Mony, and others furnished him with divers neces- 
saries." 

Accordingly, on Saturday, May 9th, in the year of 
Grace 1540, Antonio de Faria sailed from Petani, 
" and steered North Northwest, towards the Kingdom 
of Champaa, with an intent to discover the Ports and 
Havens thereof, and also by means of some good booty 
to furnish himself with such things as he wanted," a 
proper spirit, truly, for one who regarded it as his special 
mission to punish piracy! He first touched at Pulau 
Kondor, as Marco Polo and many another traveller had 
done before him, crossed thence to the shores of Champa 
and skirted the coast in a northerly direction until a river 
was reached which formed the boundary between that 
kingdom and Kambodia. This river Pinto calls " Pulo 
Cambim," though pulau signifies an island, and he tells 
us on the authority of the natives that it had its source 
in a lake named Pinator in the neighbourhood of which 
there were gold mines, while there was a " diamond 
quarry " on its shores at a place called Buarquirim. It is 



THE EXPLORATIONS 93 

impossible to make anything of these names, but the 
river was probably one of the principal mouths of the 
Mekong, a branch of which river connects with the great 
lake of Tonle Sap, but in any case the mineral wealth of 
the interior was greatly exaggerated. Seventeen leagues 
north of Pulo Cambim Pinto places a port called Saleyza- 
can, which also defies identification, beyond which was 
the river of " Toobasoy." At this place de Faria was 
attacked by pirates, whom he repulsed and captured, his 
" bag " including " a Capher slave, one Turk, two 
Achens, and the captain of the junk, named Similau, a 
notorious Pyrat, and our mortal Enemy." The variety 
of nationalities represented is curious, and it serves to il- 
lustrate how much more general was the intercourse sub- 
sisting between the natives of different parts of Asia in 
the sixteenth century than it has since become. It is 
horrible to add that these prisoners were tortured to death 
with quite diabolical cruelty by Antonio de Faria, and it 
is typical of the times that this barbarous act was per- 
formed just before the feast of Corpus Christi, which re- 
ligious festival was observed with due form by the Chris- 
tian souls on board de Faria's piratical fleet ! 

Sailing on Wednesday from Toobasoy, which was 
probably one of the mouths of the Mekong, and continu- 
ing to coast in a northerly direction, de Faria arrived on 
the following Friday at the mouth of yet another river 
which, Pinto states, was called Tinacoreu by the natives, 
but Varella by the Portuguese. The fact that the white 
men had given a name of their own to the place would 
lead us to infer that it had been visited by the Portuguese 



94 FURTHER INDIA 

prior to the arrival of de Faria, but Pinto expressly adds 
that he and his fellows were the first Europeans whom 
the natives had ever seen. Near the mouth of the river 
there was a village called Taquilleu, and at some distance 
in the interior, the Portuguese learned, there was a town 
called Pilaucacem, where the king of the country had his 
residence. I conceive that the wanderers were still 
among the mouths of the Mekong, and it seems probable 
that Pilaucacem was Pnom ^enh, as it is described as be- 
ing the centre of an extensive trade with the " Lauhos, 
Pasuaas, and Gueos — very rich people," namely the na- 
tives of Laos and the wild tribes, so called, of the interior. 
The river of Tinacoreu, Pinto further tells us, " extends to 
Moncalor, a mountain distant from thence some four 
score leagues," and that further up it was far broader, but 
not so deep. The Portuguese also learned of the exist- 
ence " in the midst of the continent " of a great lake 
called " Cunebetea " by its nearest neighbours, and 
Chiammay by others in which the river took its source. 
This belief in a great central lake in which all the large 
rivers of the Indo-Chinese peninsula took their rise was 
very persistent, and in writing of Burma, it will be re- 
called, Pinto declares that he had himself seen it — which 
is manifestly untrue. The great lake of Kambodia may 
have been the origin of this tradition, a lake at the head 
of the main branch of the Mekong being inferred by 
analogy with the more accessible branch which joins the 
parent stream near Pnom Penh, but it is obvious that the 
coast natives did not know that the river ran through a 
portion of China, and that it was never regarded by them 



THE EXPLORATIONS 95 

as a possible highway for communication with the Celes- 
tial Empire. 

Antonio de Faria next visited an island situated " in 
the entrance to the Bay of Cauchenchina forty degrees 
and a third to the northward," which was probably the 
island of Cham CoUao. Thence he crossed over to 
Hainan (Ainan), and later returned to the mainland, arriv- 
ing at the kingdom of Tanququir, which was, of course, 
Tongking. Coasting thence forty leagues towards the 
east, he reached a port called Mutipinan (Turon?), 
whence, Pinto tells us, a great overland trade was carried 
on with the Laos and other peoples of the Hinterland. 
If this statement is correct the routes over the mountains 
from the valley of the Mekong into that of the Song 
Koi, which the French explorer de Lagree ascertained 
had formerly been in frequent use, but in his day had 
been completely abandoned, must have been in existence 
at a very early period. From Mutipinan de Faria re- 
turned to Hainan, and later spent some months cruising 
about the coasts of Indo-China in a southerly direction 
with the intention of " wintering " in Siam, but some- 
where to the south of Quangiparu, " a fair town of 1,500 
fires, as we guessed," in which there were " goodly build- 
ings and Temples," he met with utter shipwreck. The 
situation of this town cannot be determined, but it would 
appear to have been on the banks of a river which fell 
into the sea on the exposed coast of Annam, and it may 
perhaps be identical with the modern Quang-mai. The 
spot where de Faria and his fellows were cast ashore was 
barren and uninhabited, and for some days the survivors 



96 FURTHER INDIA 

of the wreck — fifty-three souls, of whom twenty-three 
were Portuguese, out of a company some five hundred 
and thirty strong — wandered about in a condition of great 
distress. A Chinese vessel, however, soon put in there 
to water, and while her crew were ashore, de Faria suc- 
ceeded in surprising her, and sailed away in triumph 
leaving the dispossessed owners marooned upon an in- 
hospitable coast. 

They next captured some unfortunate fisherfolk on a 
little island called Quintoo, to serve as pilots, and from 
them they learned that eighteen leagues distant there was a 
" good river and good Rode " called Xingrau. For this 
haven de Faria sailed, and thence, after touching at sev- 
eral islands and ports, and committing various acts of pi- 
racy, they made their way northward eventually reaching 
the Chinese port of Chinchu. How thereafter de Faria 
fell in with the pirate of whom he had so long been in 
search ; how he defeated and killed him ; of the rich spoil 
which he took, and of the splendid reception accorded to 
him by his enthusiastic countrymen at the port of Liam- 
poo, I cannot here tell in detail. De Faria, the sea-rover, 
it should however be remarked, was conducted in state to 
the church where public thanks were offered to the Al- 
mighty for the victorious crusade against the infidel, in 
the course of which this Christian hero had broken not a 
few of the Ten Commandments, had murdered and robbed 
and tortured and pillaged without scruple, and had made 
victims of the inoffensive natives of countries who never 
before had so much as seen a white man. It was a curi- 
ous age in which men could see virtue in the perpetrator 



THE EXPLORATIONS 97 

of such enormities : it is less curious that before the end 
of the sixteenth century the name of the white man had 
been made to stink in the nostrils of Asiatics. 

The verdict passed by Pinto upon Indo-China is worth 
repeating. After describing its wealth from information 
derived from native sources, he says, 

" Whereby it may be gathered that if the Country could 
be taken, it would without so much labour or loss of 
blood, be of greater profit and less charge than the Indies," 
an opinion which its present possessors, the countrymen 
of Dupleix would, I conceive, be little likely to echo, 
however much they might desire to be able to give it their 
endorsement. 

After Pinto's day the Portuguese appear to have set- 
tled in Kambodia, much as they settled in Burma, at their 
own risk and without receiving much active support from 
their Government. The Dominican Caspar de Cruz 
visited the country in 1590, as also did Christoval de 
Jaques between 1592 and 1598. According to the latter 
the Lake of Tonle Sap and the Khmer ruins at Angkor 
had been discovered by the Portuguese in 1570, and this 
would seem to indicate that the intercourse between the 
rulers of Kambodia, whose capital was at or near Pnom 
Penh, and the Portuguese traders had increased consider- 
ably during the half century immediately following the 
famous voyage of Antonio de Faria. In about the year 
1580 a Frenchman named Louvet visited the delta of the 
Mekong, and was thus the first of his race to set foot in 
the region which was destined to become at a later date 
the great Asiatic colony of France. Five years later an- 



98 FURTHER INDIA 

other Frenchman, Pere George La Mothe of the Oi;der 
of St. Dominic, went to Cochin-China in the company 
of a Portuguese missionary named Fonseca. The two 
priests were attacked by the natives, Fonseca was mur- 
dered, and La Mothe, sorely wounded, made his escape 
on board a Spanish ship, but died of the injuries he had 
received before he could reach Malacca. Jan Huygen 
van Linschoten, whose book published in 1 596 wrought, 
as we shall presently see, so much injury to the prestige 
of Portugal, had collected much information concerning 
all the lands with which the Portuguese held commerce, 
and he is one of the first to speak of the great river of 
Kambodia by name. 

" Through this kingdom (Champa)," he writes, " run- 
neth the river Mecom into the sea, which the Indians 
name Captain of all the Rivers, for it hath so much water 
in the Summer that it covereth and watereth all the coun- 
try as the river Nilus does ^Egypt." ..." Upwards 
in the land behind Cambaia (Kambodia)," he adds, " are 
many nations, as Laos, which are a great and mightie 
people, others named Auas (Avas, /. ^., Burmese of Upper 
Burma) and Bramas (Lower Burmese) which dwel in the 
hilles ; others dwel upon the hils called Gueos, which live 
like wild men, and eat men's flesh and marke their bodies 
with hot irons which they esteeme a freedome." 

The knowledge in his possession, it will be seen, was 
not precisely accurate, the Burmese being by no means 
hill tribes, anthropophagy being a practice unknown in 
Indo-China, and tattooing, which is only in use among 
the Burmese and the Shans and hill tribes of the north, 



THE EXPLORATIONS 99 

being effected by pigment rather than by " hot irons," 
which would seem to imply a process of branding. Lin- 
schoten, however had had opportunities of ascertaining 
from the best Portuguese authorities all the facts within 
their knowledge, and his book probably represented the 
best information concerning the peoples of the Hinter- 
land of Indo-China that was then at the disposal of Eu- 
ropeans in the East. 

Late in the sixteenth, or early in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, the Portuguese established regular trading-posts in 
Cochin-China and Kambodia, the most advanced of these 
being at Pnom Penh. Beyond this and the district of Siam- 
reap at the north of the Lake of Tonle Sap, they do not 
appear to have penetrated, and the first organised attempt 
to explore the interior of Indo-China by the Mekong 
route was made, not by them, but by the Dutch East In- 
dia Company. With this we shall have to deal in a later 
chapter, but the explorations of the Portuguese in south- 
eastern Asia, which began with the fall of Malacca in 
15 1 1, may be said to have ended early in the following 
century. When the other nations of Europe began to 
flock eastward the Portuguese found the task of defend- 
ing their own position sufficiently arduous, and thereafter 
they ceased to push their discoveries into new lands. 
During the hour of their prosperity they scattered them- 
selves broadcast with a quite extraordinary rapidity, but 
they were content for the most part with the exploitation 
of the coasts and easily accessible places at no great dis- 
tance from the sea, and the heavier work of discovery fell 
to the lot of other white nations. Yet the traces of the 



LofC. 



loo FURTHER INDIA 

Portuguese traders have not even now completely van- 
ished, and in almost every town of any size in southeast- 
ern Asia men are to be found bearing historic names of 
Portugal, speaking a bastard dialect of the Peninsula, and 
albeit they are generally more swarthy than the natives 
of the land, cherishing in the ignominy of the present a 
passionate disdain for the full-blooded Oriental. This 
latter sentiment is almost the last relic of the pride of the 
once powerful race who for a space ruled the seas and 
coast of Asia, and passing bequeathed to the East this 
sorry legacy of half-breeds. 



CHAPTER V 

THE EAST INDIA COMPANIES, AND AFTER 

THERE is a certain characteristic irony in the 
fact that the nation whose king enjoyed the 
title of " The Eldest Son of the Church " should 
have been the first of all the peoples of Europe to set at 
defiance the Bull of Alexander VI. In 1528 the brothers 
Jean and Raoul Parmentier of Dieppe sailed from France, 
rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and penetrated as far 
south and east as Sumatra, where Jean, the leader and the 
inspiring genius of the adventure, died in the following 
year. His friend, the poet Pierre Crignon, who sailed 
with him, says of his dead captain : 

" Cest le premier Francois qui a decouvert les Indies 
jusques a Visle de Taprobane^ et si mort ne Veust pas 
prevenuje crois quHl eust He jusques au MoluquesJ* 

This, however, was not to be, and though the French 
broke through the ring-fence of Portugal before any other 
nation of Europe had ventured to do so, their efforts were 
isolated and of no importance. The first organised chal- 
lenge to the monopoly enjoyed by the Portuguese in 
Asia emanated from the city of London, England once 
again playing the part which has earned for her so much 
hatred among the nations of the Continent — that of chief 
thwarter of individual ambitions. 

During the concluding twenty years of the sixteenth 

lOI 



102 FURTHER INDIA 

century history in Europe made itself apace. The 
United Provinces had achieved their independence; 
Spain and Portugal had come under the sceptre of Philip 
II, who thus united in his single person the sovereignty 
of the discoveries in the Eastern and the Western world, 
which had been made by the two great nations of the 
Peninsula; the globe had been circumnavigated by 
Drake and by Cavendish ; and most important of all, in 
so far as the fate of the East was concerned, the pride and 
strength of the greatest maritime peoples of Europe had 
been humbled to the dust by the defeat of the Invincible 
Armada. During the sixteenth century the trade of Asia 
poured into Lisbon, carried thither in Portuguese bot- 
toms, and its distribution throughout the countries of 
Europe was mainly conducted by the traders of Holland. 
Philip's decree forbidding Dutch merchants to reside in 
or to hold commerce with Lisbon was a blow directed 
against the material prosperity of the Netherlands ; but 
though for a time the measure caused considerable dis- 
tress, it served in the end as a stimulant to the Hollanders 
inciting them to find their way to Asia on their own 
account, and thus to break up the monopoly so long 
enjoyed by Portugal and partially shared by Spain. 

The first expedition, which had for its object the estab- 
lishment of direct commercial relations between English 
merchants and the East, sailed in 1591, three years after 
the defeat of the Armada. It consisted of a fleet of three 
vessels under the command of Raymond and Lancaster, 
and the enterprise was conducted upon lines as frankly 
piratical as the heart of an Elizabethan could desire. On 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 103 

the way to the Cape of Good Hope a " Portugal carawel 
laden by merchants of Lisbon for Brasile " was snapped 
up, containing " divers necessaries fit for our voyage : 
which wine, oyle, olives and capers were better to us than 
gold," as Edmund Barker, Lieutenant, appreciatively re- 
cords. In June, 1592, Lancaster, after cruising off the 
north of Sumatra, reached " Pulo Pinaon " (Penang), 
where he decided to await the change of the monsoon. 
Here many men died of sickness, and when Lancaster 
put to sea his company numbered only thirty-three men 
and one boy, " of which not twenty-two were found for 
labour and helpe, and of them not a third part sailors." 
None the less the adventurers did not hesitate to give 
chase to "three ships, being all of burthen sixty or 
seventy tunnes, one of which we made to strike with our 
very boat," though her consorts were spared because 
the goods they contained belonged to natives of Pegu, 
and not, like those which she contained, to the hated 
" Portugals." In September Lancaster sailed southward 
into the Straits of Malacca as far as Pulau Sambilan, a 
little group of islands situated near the mouth of the 
Perak River, where he lay in wait for shipping passing to 
and from Malacca. He succeeded in effecting the cap- 
ture of two important Portuguese vessels, which made 
only a poor resistance, and then, " douting the forces of 
Malacca," as well he might, he made his way northward 
to Junk Ceylon, back to Sumatra, and thence to the Nic- 
obars. After short stays at the first and last of these 
places, he proceeded to Ceylon, where it had been his in- 
tention to await a fitting opportunity to fall upon the 



104 FURTHER INDIA 

Portuguese ships sailing from India, but his crews had 
had their fill of wanderings and adventures, and as their 
leader was stricken down by sickness at this juncture, 
they insisted upon sailing for the Cape. Lancaster's 
voyage could hardly be accounted much of a success, but 
it was memorable because it was the first attempt made 
by the English to strike right into the heart of the Por- 
tuguese empire in the East. Drake and Cavendish had 
both passed through the Malayan Archipelago, and each 
had done his best to cause trouble to the Spaniards be- 
fore ever Lancaster sailed from Plymouth; but Caven- 
dish, at any rate, had had some not unfriendly inter- 
course with the Portuguese merchants in Java, and both 
he and Drake had come by the Cape Horn route, and had 
sailed for the Cape of Good Hope without attempting to 
penetrate into the Straits of Malacca. Lancaster, on the 
contrary, though in effect he accomplished little, sailed 
round Africa by the great Portuguese highway ; harried 
Portuguese shipping from the Atlantic to the mouth of 
the Perak River ; and captured vessels almost within sight 
of the great Portuguese stronghold of Malacca. This 
was a considerable achievement, for he had given practi- 
cal demonstration of the fact that the position of the 
Portuguese in the East was by no means unassailable, and 
he brought back with him some valuable information, not 
only regarding routes and trade, but also on the subject 
of the political situation in Asia. 

During the last decade of the sixteenth century, indeed, 
the secrecy which the Portuguese had been at such pains 
to maintain concerning their eastern conquests and dis- 




J. Huygen Van Linschoten 

From his " Voyages to the East Indies," by permission of the 
Hakluyt Society 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 105 

coveries began to be penetrated by the other nations of 
Europe. A period was set to the time during which all 
detailed information concerning the geography, the trade, 
the politics and the peoples of the East was, in a sense, 
the exclusive and jealously guarded property of Portugal. 
The capture of the carrack, the Madre de Dios, by the 
English in 1592, on board which was a copy of the 
" Notable Register and Matricole of the whole Govern- 
ment and Trade of the Portuguese in the East Indies," 
furnished the merchants of London with much precious 
information which hitherto had been withheld from all 
the world, and this document became in fact the pros- 
spectus of the first British East India Company. Dr. 
Thorne, an EngHshman who had long resided in Seville, 
also supplied his countrymen with a valuable report on 
the political and commercial relations of Spain and Por- 
tugal with the East. A similar service was rendered to 
the merchants of Holland by Jan Huygen van Lin- 
schoten, who had resided many years at Goa under the 
patronage of the Archbishop, Vincente de Fonseca, and 
had collected a great store of information relating to all 
the eastern lands with which the Portuguese held com- 
merce. Linschoten returned to Holland in September, 
1592, and two years later the States General granted him 
a license to publish his work. Its appearance, however, 
was delayed until 1596, as its author, who shared the then 
popular belief in the possibility of opening a trade-route 
to the Indies via the north of Europe and Asia, wasted 
this period upon a fruitless voyage undertaken with that 
object. Although his book was not given to the pubHc 



io6 FURTHER INDIA 

until 1596, it seems probable that the manuscript was 
examined by many who were interested in the future of 
Holland's trade with Asia, and its subsequent publication, 
and translation into many tongues, dealt a tremendous 
blow to Portugal, for it contained a merciless exposure of 
the futility of her system and of the rottenness which was 
eating into the heart of her administration in the East. 

On April 2, 1595, a fleet of four vessels, equipped by 
the newly established Dutch East India Company, sailed 
from the Texel, under the command of Cornelius Hout- 
man. The Cape route was followed, and in June, 1596, 
the fleet reached Sumatra. Coasting towards the south, 
Houtman passed through the Straits of Sunda, and made 
a considerable stay at Bantam, the town at the north- 
western extremity of Java, where a Portuguese factory 
was already in existence, and where the Dutchmen speed- 
ily obtained permission to establish a trading-post of their 
own. Their coming was, of course, viewed with great 
dissatisfaction by the Portuguese, and though the latter 
concealed their hostility, they set to work to intrigue 
against their rivals, and succeeded so well that serious 
misunderstandings arose between Houtman and the na- 
tives. After leaving Bantam, the Dutch adventurers 
passed to Jaccatra, the town upon the ruins of which 
Batavia, the modern capital of the Dutch East Indies, has 
been reared, and thence, coasting along the northern 
shores of Java, visited Bali and Lombok. At the latter 
place he found that his crews had been so much reduced 
that their number no longer sufficed to work all the ships, 
and the Amsterdam^ a vessel of 200 tons, was abandoned 






\h' :?•-?- 


















wmm3mm 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 107 

and burned. Houtman then set sail across the Indian 
Ocean, doubled the Cape, and reached the Texel in Au- 
gust, 1597, having with him only eighty-nine men out of 
the company, 249 strong, which had shipped with him 
little more than two years earlier. 

His voyage is chiefly interesting because it illustrates 
the different policy adopted from the beginning by the 
Dutch, as compared with that of the Portuguese. The 
methods of the latter we have already examined : the 
qualities which characterised the Dutch system may be 
summed up in a few words. To begin with the Hollan- 
ders had in view a single object — trade. They evinced 
no desire to proselytise, or to insult the religious or social 
prejudices of the natives. They made no attempt at fiH- 
bustering ; behaved with considerable self-restraint in very 
trying circumstances at Bantam; and their generally 
peaceful and orderly behaviour made a deep impression 
on the Orientals who had become used to the license of 
the Portuguese. This favourable view of the newcomers 
was confirmed at a later period by better acquaintance 
with the Dutchmen, and Pyrard de Laval, for instance, 
tells us that at Bantam " the king had an affection to- 
wards them and the people loved them." Their claim 
upon the good will of the natives rested also to no small 
extent upon their open hostility to the Portuguese, and 
though they were guilty of many acts of piracy, they 
tried to make a distinction between the property of their 
European enemies and that of Asiatic traders. Speaking 
generally, both the Dutch and the English were well re- 
ceived in the East, principally because they were not 



io8 FURTHER INDIA 

Portuguese, and because their coming was known to be 
viewed with intense disfavour by those white men who 
had earned and deserved the hatred of the native popula- 
tions. Houtman, therefore, was able to bring back with 
him a very encouraging report of the prospects presented 
by the newly opened trade between Holland and the 
Indies, and so quick were the merchants of the Nether- 
lands to seize the advantages thus offered to them that by 
the summer of 1601 — only six and a half years after the 
sailing of the first expedition — no less than forty-nine 
Dutch vessels had been sent out bound for Malaya via 
the Cape of Good Hope. 

Meanwhile, on December 31st, 1599, the Charter of 
Incorporation of the first British East India Company 
had been granted, " Being a privilege for fifteen years to 
certain adventurers for the discovery of the trade of the 
East Indies, namely, George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland 
and 215 knights, aldermen, and merchants." A capital of 
;^72,ooo was subscribed, and on February i6th, 1600, 
Lancaster sailed from England in command of the first 
fleet of the East India Company. Taking the Cape 
route, he reached Achem (Acheh) on June 5th, 1602, 
delivered a letter addressed by Queen Elizabeth to the 
king of that state, established good relations with him 
and his people, and opened a factory in his capital. A 
Portuguese ambassador from Malacca tried vainly to in- 
duce the King to have no dealings with the Englishmen, 
but the Achehnese had from the first constituted them- 
selves the especial defenders of the brown man's birth- 
right against the aggression of the Portuguese, and they 







Further India 

From Blaew's Atlas, 1663 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 109 

were accordingly prepared to give a warm welcome to 
any Europeans who were enemies of the hated race. 
Lancaster not only carried on his trade in Acheh with- 
out molestation under the protection of its king, but 
actually used the place as his base of operations for a 
piratical raid which he presently made upon the Portu- 
guese in the Straits of Malacca — an expedition which 
resulted in the capture of one very rich prize. On his re- 
turn to Acheh a treaty of friendship was made with the 
King, and Lancaster coasted along Sumatra, passed 
through the Straits of Sunda, and opened a factory at 
Bantam. Thence he sailed for England, leaving behind 
him eight men and two factors, the chief of whom was 
Master William Starkey, whose purely mercantile charge 
must be regarded as the germ out of which there grew 
in the course of time Great Britain's enormous empire 
in the East. 

Bantam itself had been first visited by the Portuguese 
in 15 1 1, when, immediately after the fall of Malacca, 
Henrique Leme, one of Dalboquerque's captains, touched 
at the port. Houtman, as we have seen, established a 
trading-post there in 1596, at which time a Portuguese 
factory was already in existence, and the station now 
founded by Lancaster became later the principal Presi- 
dency of the British East Indies to which the agencies of 
Madras, Bengal and Surat were alike subordinate. The 
importance of Bantam for both the English and the 
Dutch lay in the fact that it furnished a convenient centre 
from which to trade with Sumatra for pepper, and 
especially with the Moluccas for spices, the latter being 



110 FURTHER INDIA 

the most precious produce in the East. No sooner had 
the Dutch power in the Malayan Archipelago attained to 
sufficient proportions than a descent was made upon 
Amboyna, which was captured by Van Nek in 1599, al- 
though the Portuguese had a fort on Tidor. Two years 
later the Portuguese sent a fleet under Andre Furtado 
" to expel the rebel Hollanders/* and for the moment 
Amboyna was retaken. Aided by the Spaniards, who 
were now strongly estabhshed in the Philippines, the 
Portuguese tried in 1603 to annex Ternate, but the at- 
tempt failed, and in 1605 the Dutch made another swoop 
upon the Moluccas, their leader. Van der Hagen, driving 
the Portuguese not only out of Amboyna but also out of 
Tidor. Two years later Pedro de Acuna, the Spanish 
Governor of the Philippines, attacked the Dutch and de- 
prived them of all their possessions in the Moluccas, ex- 
cept Amboyna. 

Meanwhile, in 1606, the Dutch under Matelief laid 
seige to Malacca itself, thus striking at the very heart of 
the Portuguese power in Southeastern Asia, and it is to 
be noted that the Sultan of Johor took part in the cam- 
paign against the successors of Dalboquerque. It was in 
these latter years that the Portuguese began to reap the 
crop of hatred which they had sown among the natives of 
the East during the preceding century. The Portuguese 
Viceroy, Martin Affonso de Castro, sailed from Goa to 
the relief of Malacca with the greatest armada which had 
ever quitted that port. In the first instance he attacked 
Acheh, whose king had, as usual, befriended the enemies 
of Portugal, and was heavily repulsed. He then passed 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES m 

into the Straits of Malacca, forcing Matelief to raise 
the siege, but was immediately after trounced most 
soundly by that redoubtable Dutchman in a great sea 
fight. For the moment, however, Malacca itself was 
saved, but a death-blow to the prestige of Portugal in 
Malaya had been dealt, and from that moment the fate 
of the first conquerors of Malacca was sealed. Matelief, 
flushed with victory, sailed to the Moluccas, where in 
the following year he succeeded in driving the Spaniards 
out of Tidor. Till 1611 this island was held by the 
Dutch, but in that year it was retaken by the Spaniards 
together with the island of Banda, though soon after the 
Dutch reestablished themselves in Ternate. In 1641, 
however, Malacca fell before the joint attack of the Hol- 
landers and the Achehnese, and passed into the keeping 
of the former, as also in the course of time did the 
Moluccas and most of the islands of the Malayan Archi- 
pelago. 

After the final defeat of the Portuguese and the con- 
quest of Malacca the power of Holland in Malaya grew 
rapidly. By means of superior energy and enterprise the 
Dutch contrived to engross the greater part of the spice- 
trade, leaving to the English traders only an insignificant 
residue. In 1682, by fomenting an insurrection headed 
by the son of the King of Bantam, they succeeded in driv- 
ing the British out of Java, which they then annexed 
little by little, till they had made themselves masters of the 
whole. The English fell back upon Sumatra, where they 
held factories in Acheh, at Priaman, Fort Marlborough, 
and at Bengkulen, stations which became of less and less 



112 FURTHER INDIA 

importance as England gradually began to win a new 
empire in India. On the mainland the Dutch estab- 
lished trading-posts in Perak and Selangor, but through 
these were presently withdrawn. Malacca was held until 
1795, when it was attacked and taken by the British; it 
was restored to Holland in 18 18 under the Treaty of 
Vienna, but six years later was exchanged for Beukulen, 
and this time passed finally into the keeping of Great 
Britain. The East India Company had meanwhile 
founded a settlement on the island of Penang, which was 
leased by them from the Raja of Kedah in 1786, and in 
1798 the territory on the mainland, now known as Prov- 
ince Wellesley, was purchased for ;^2,ooo. Sir Stanford 
Raffles, whose statesman's eye saw the strategic and com- 
mercial value of the position, obtained the cession of the 
island of Singapore from the Sultan of Johor in 18 19, 
but the territory immediately behind the town of Malacca 
was not brought under British jurisdiction until 1833. 
An English expedition invaded and took possession of 
Java in 181 1, but in 1818 the island was restored to 
Holland. The remaining British settlements on the is- 
land of Sumatra were ceded to the Dutch by a treaty 
concluded in 1 871, under the provisions of which Hol- 
land abandoned all claims in the Malay Peninsula, and 
with the extension of British influence throughout the 
Native States of the mainland, which began in 1874, the 
real exploration of this Malayan region had its beginning. 
Up to this time the Malay Peninsula, in all save its 
coast-line and its ports, at some of which small Dutch 
factories had from time to time been established, was 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 113 

a complete terra incognita to Europeans. The story of 
its subsequent exploration will be told in a later chapter. 
To return now to the doings of the East India Com- 
panies in the other lands of southeastern Asia, it was not 
until 161 8 that trade began to be conducted by the Brit- 
ish with the valley of the Irawadi, the exploitation of which 
by Portuguese adventurers has already been noted. Cu- 
riously enough the first of the Company's factors to visit 
Burma came, not from India, but overland from Siam. 
In 1 61 8 the factor at the Siamese capital, Lucas Anthon- 
ison by name, sent a sub-factor, one Thomas Samuel, up 
the Menam to Zengomay ( Chieng Mai ), to investigate 
the prospects of trade in that place, which shortly before 
had passed into the hands of Siam. The forces of the 
King of Ava retook Chieng Mai while Samuel was still 
there, and the unfortunate merchant was carried to Pegu 
with all his property, and soon afterwards died there. He 
was not the first white man to accompHsh the journey 
from Ayuthia to Pegu, since the Portuguese contingent 
which aided the Peguan army in its invasion of Siam in 
1548 must have traversed approximately the same Hne of 
country ; but his arrival led indirectly to the opening up of 
commerce with that country by the agents of the British 
Company. Anthonison, who had meanwhile been trans- 
ferred to Masulipatam, no sooner heard what had befallen 
Samuel than he despatched two sub-factors to Burma, 
ostensibly to enquire for the dead merchant's effects, but 
really with a view to establishing trade. He was badly 
served by his agents, who tried to keep the commerce of 
Burma in their own hands and to discourage its exten- 



114 FURTHER INDIA 

sion, but none the less British intercourse with the country 
shortly afterwards became freer than it ever was again 
until after the annexation of Pegu in 1852. The East 
India Company had settlements at Prome, Ava and Sir- 
ian, and a trading-post somewhere on the confines of 
China, at a place which in all probability was Bhamo, on 
the Irawadi, over 300 miles above Mandalay. The Dutch 
Company also had a considerable trade with Burma, pos- 
sessing factories in the upper districts, and, it is said, 
occupying the island of Negrais. From 1 631 to 1677 
they had a factory at Sirian, once the capital of the 
ill-fated de Brito, and Valentyn attributes their abandon- 
ment of trade with Burma to the constant wars which in 
this region made peaceful commerce impossible. The 
British trade also languished, but between 1680 and 1684 
the Company reestablished its factories in Burma, and in 
1686-7 the island of Negrais was surveyed and taken 
nominal possession of by the English. In 1695 Nathaniel 
Higginson, the Governor of Fort St. George, sent Edward 
Fleetwood and Capt. James Lesley to Ava with presents 
to the King, out of which the sender, who instructed his 
agents to haggle manfully, hoped to make a profit in the 
form of return -gifts. A grant for a new factory at Sirian 
was obtained, and a Resident was appointed there to su- 
pervise the trade, but almost immediately afterwards a gen- 
eral expulsion of foreigners took place, and thenceforth 
the East India Company had no direct financial stake in 
Burmese commerce. Sirian, however, continued to be 
the residence of British and other foreign merchants, and 
when the Siamese and the Peguans, leagued together 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 115 

against Ava, took the place in 1740, these strangers were 
not molested. Three years later Sirian was retaken by 
Ava, and subsequently was burned by the Peguans, when 
the British, whose Resident, Mr. Smart, had acted, as be- 
fitted his name, with duphcity in his dealings with both 
parties, were obliged to retire. Negrais was settled from 
Madras in 1753, while war was once more raging be- 
tween Ava and Pegu, and two years later the British 
factory at Bassein was destroyed by the former. A mis- 
sion under Captain Baker was sent to Ava to ask for 
redress and to offer the support of the Company, which 
had been prudently withheld until the defeat of the Peg- 
uans had become a manifest certainty. Baker was badly 
received, and when he spoke of " assistance " the King 
bared his thighs, smote them with his palms, laughed in- 
sultingly in the envoy's face and asked him what he 
thought such a king as he had to do with aid from any 
man! In 1757 another envoy. Ensign Lister, was sent 
up the Irawadi to Ava, and as the result of a most hu- 
miliating interview, a new factory was opened at Bassein. 
In 1759 Negrais was practically abandoned, only a small 
staff remaining there in charge of the buildings, and the 
entire population of the island, including ten Europeans, 
was treacherously murdered very soon afterwards by the 
Burmese. The weakness which characterised the deal- 
ings of the Company with Burma was never better ex- 
emplified than by the action taken on this occasion, for 
the envoy sent to plead for redress was received with con- 
tempt and insult, and there the matter ended. Bassein was 
now abandoned, but some trade was carried on with Ran- 



ii6 FURTHER INDIA 

goon until 1 794, the merchants doing Httle business, while 
the Company's agents possessed no political influence, and 
occupied for the most part positions of great humiliation. 
Over Chittagong and Assam, however, the Company 
had established its hold, and when in 1794 the Burmese 
sent 5,000 armed men into the former province " to ar- 
rest robbers dead or aHve," the British at last showed 
fight, and the Burmese yielded without forcing the issue. 
The following year Capt. Michael Symes was sent upon 
his famous embassy to Ava, a mission of which he sub- 
sequently wrote an elaborate account. He was accom- 
panied by Lieutenant Woods, who made the first reliable 
survey of the Irawadi from Rangoon to Ava, and by Dr. 
Buchanan, who collected a great deal of information 
bearing upon the districts traversed. This was the only 
really important achievement of the mission, for Symes 
was treated with the utmost insolence, was presented to 
the King, in circumstances of intense humiliation, upon 
a kodaUy or " beg-pardon day," and effected nothing of 
any importance. He moreover carried away with him a 
wholly exaggerated idea of the might of Ava, and though 
Cox, the next envoy, corrected his predecessor's erroneous 
impressions, Symes was regarded at the time as the more 
reliable authority, and his book was probably not with- 
out its effect in leading the Government of India into 
continuing the weak-kneed policy which had too long 
been followed towards the arrogant Burmese Court. Be- 
tween the time of Cox's visit and 1810 three other mis- 
sions were sent to Ava, each in turn to be subjected to 
insults which it is humiliating to recall, and on each 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 117 

occasion the King declined to take the sHghtest notice 
of the letters sent by the Governor-General, deeming it 
below him to have any dealings with one who was not a 
crowned head. All these missions followed the river 
route to Amarapura, the then residence of the King, and 
no material addition was made to the information which 
had been collected by the officers attached to Symes's 
mission. Ava during the whole of this time continued 
to treat foreigners with the utmost contumely, and in 
1805, for instance, all the British subjects in Rangoon 
were imprisoned, owing to some misunderstanding 
which arose over the seizure by the Company of a ship 
in whose cargo the Burmese authorities were in some way 
interested. The Company, however, was long-suffering, 
and it was not until Chittagong had been repeatedly 
raided that war was at last declared. Sir Archibald 
Campbell ascended the Irawadi and reached Prome on 
April 4th, 1825, where he went into cantonments until 
the end of the rainy season. The land column under 
Cotton, operating in conjunction with him, had been 
heavily repulsed by the Burmese at Donabyu, but other- 
wise the resistance offered had been poor. In September 
the King sent down from Ava to know on what terms 
the British army would retire. The reply was that 
Arakan and Tenasserim must be ceded to the Company. 
The King declined, and hostilities were renewed, the 
Burmese being badly beaten a little north of Prome. As 
the British army continued to advance, the King decided 
to sue for peace, and on February 24th, 1826, the peace 
of Yandabu was signed, whereby Tavoi, Mergui, and 



ii8 FURTHER INDIA 

Tenasserim — together constituting the long strip of coun- 
try lying between the Bay of Bengal and the frontiers of 
Siam — were ceded to the British, and with Arakan be- 
came the foundation of our Burmese empire. 

The same year John Crawfurd was sent to negotiate 
the commercial treaty which had been provided for in 
the terms of peace, but the Court of Ava had not yet 
learned its lesson, for though his reception compared 
favourably with those accorded to his predecessors, he 
met with both impertinence and bad faith. On Decem- 
ber 31st, 1829, Major Burney was appointed British Resi- 
dent at Ava, a position which he held with distinction 
for eight years, only retiring to Rangoon and sailing for 
England after the usurpation of the crown by the savage 
and arrogant King Tharawadi had robbed him of all in- 
fluence. With the appointment of Burney to this post 
at Ava a new chapter opens in the story of the explora- 
tion of Burma, but its details will have to be examined 
by us later on. 

Turning next to Siam, we find that intercourse between 
this country and the Dutch East India Company began 
as early as 1604, before a decade had elapsed since the 
sailing of the first vessels from the Texel ; and in 1608 a 
Siamese mission was sent to the Dutch factory at Bantam. 
It was not, however, until 1634 that a Dutch post was 
established in Siam, and in 1663 the Company withdrew 
its agent, averring that its agreement with Siam had been 
violated by the latter. That Siam saw the removal of 
the factors with regret is proved by the fact that in the 
following year an embassy was sent to Batavia, by means 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 119 

of which friendly relations were once more established. 
These continued unabated for some years, the Dutch 
agent in 1685 being the first foreigner ever admitted to 
the presence of the King. In 1706, however, a differ- 
ence arose once more, and this time the Dutch were 
obliged to ask for such terms as the Siamese were dis- 
posed to grant to them. Subsequently the trade between 
the Hollanders and Siam languished and almost ceased. 
In 1740 an effort was made to restore the former state of 
things, the King of Siam making friendly overtures to 
the Dutch, but the negotiations led to nothing, and so 
completely did the intercourse between the Dutch and 
the Siamese cease that when Bowring visited Bangkok 
in 1857, he found no trace remaining there to show that 
the connection, which had lasted for more than a century, 
had ever existed. 

A remarkable figure in the history of Siamese relations 
with the West is that of Constantine Phaulkon, or Fal- 
con, a Greek of Cephalonia, who ran away to England in 
about 1640, when he was a mere child, and afterwards 
sailed for the Indies in one of Old John Company's ships. 
Later, having acquired a vessel of his own, he was 
wrecked near the mouth of the Menam, passed some 
years in Siam, and learned the language of the country. 
Sailing from Siam, he had the misfortune to be again 
wrecked on the coast of Malabar, his whole ship's com- 
pany perishing, while he alone escaped, carrying with him 
a sum of 2,000 crowns. Naked and in a sorry plight, he 
was roaming the shores upon which he had been cast, 
when he lighted upon another shipwrecked mariner, 



120 FURTHER INDIA 

even more destitute than himself, who was also the only- 
survivor of his crew, and the moment this man opened 
his mouth to speak Constantine discovered that he was a 
native of Siam. Enquiry led Constantine to ascertain the 
fact that this waif was a high official who had been de- 
spatched by his King on an embassy to Persia, of all places, 
— yet another proof, were any such needed, of the extent 
of the inter-Asiatic intercourse which existed prior to the 
domination of the East by white men — and the wily 
Greek, whose charity, we must suspect, was not untainted 
by self-seeking, invested his all in a ship, in which he con- 
veyed his new-found friend back to Siam. The man 
whom he had thus so handsomely befriended recommended 
him to the officials in Siam, and Constantine presently won 
for himself great renown by his skilful manipulation of the 
accounts of some Muhammadans, whereby he proved that 
far from the King being in their debt, they owed the 
monarch a substantial sum of money ! At an Oriental 
Court tact and wisdom such as this were sure of recogni- 
tion, and Constantine rose in the public service until he 
at last occupied the proud position of Prime Minister. 
He attained this eminence in 1665, and at Lopburi in the 
Menam valley there are still extant the ruins of the works 
which were built under his direction. During his youth 
in England he had abandoned Catholicism, and had be- 
come an Anglican, but the Jesuits, who long ere this had 
established missions in China and in other parts of the 
Far East, found him out and won him back to the faith 
of his fathers. Thereafter Constantine appears to have 
cherished a desire to convert the King of Siam to Chris- 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 121 

tianity, and it was largely through his agency that the 
missions of which Pere Tachard and Pere Choisi were 
the chroniclers were despatched to the Court of Siam 
by Louis XIV in 1685 and 1687. These embassies, the 
second of which was under the leadership of the Chevalier 
de Chaumont, were mainly composed of Jesuits, and their 
sole object was the conversion of the King. They were 
well received, and the Chevalier de Chaumont was care- 
ful to submit himself to none of the humiliating observ- 
ances which, until a much later period, were exacted from 
British envoys to the Court of Ava ; but the King, albeit 
he was a most liberal-minded monarch, far in advance of 
his age and race, had no intention of adopting an alien 
faith. De Chaumont, therefore, presently returned to 
France ; but the Jesuits remained behind, and for a period 
occupied positions of importance in the Siamese service. 
They were instrumental in helping to suppress a rebellion 
headed by a Muhammadan, in which some refugees from 
Macassar took part, but they gradually became hateful to 
the nobles and the people of Siam, and were eventually 
massacred to a man, Constantine himself being ignomin- 
iously executed. 

During the eighteenth century intercourse between 
Europeans and Siam was confined to the visits of a few 
traders and missionaries, and Hamilton's Account of the 
East Indies y published in Edinburgh in 1727, is probably 
the best work on the lands of southeastern Asia which 
that period produced. It shows, however, an intimate 
knowledge of nothing save the ports and coast-lines, all 
information relating to the interior being derived from 



122 FURTHER INDIA 

native sources of no great accuracy. Hamilton may be 
regarded as typical of his class and age, and a study of 
his work shows us how slow was the progress of know- 
ledge of these regions after the great discoveries of the 
sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries. 
The missionaries, as ever, were ubiquitous and scornful of 
risk, but they were for the most part inarticulate for us, 
and when in 1821 John Crawfurd was sent to Bangkok 
and Hue on a special embassy, George Finlayson, in his 
account of the mission, writes of these countries as though 
they were in some sort being rediscovered. Hitherto, he 
declares, they had been " almost unknown to us." Craw- 
furd and his party were coldly received in Siam, and after 
a short stay at the capital they coasted as far as Pulau 
Kondor, touching at several islands on the way. They 
visited Saigon, where they met a M. Diard, " a lively, 
well-educated Frenchman," and passed thence to Hue by 
water after calling in at Turon. At the Court of Cochin- 
China they found that French influence was predominant, 
but permission to trade was granted by the King to the 
East India Company, and the mission then returned over- 
land to Turon. Five years later Burney, afterwards 
Resident at Ava, was sent to Bangkok to enlist the co- 
operation of the Siamese against Burma, with which the 
British were then at war, but he was not too well received, 
and the peace of Yandabu was concluded before any 
active steps had been taken. We have now traced the 
history of European intercourse with Siam up to the time 
of the first Burmese war, and as the detailed exploration 
of the country is a work that belongs to the last seventy 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 123 

years of the nineteenth century, it will be more conven- 
ient to continue the narrative in a later chapter. 

Turning finally to Indo-China — namely, Cochin-China, 
Kambodia, Annam, Tongking, and the Laos country in 
the valley of the Mekong, — we find that after the first 
settlements had been formed by the Portuguese during the 
sixteenth century, as has already been related, the British 
and Dutch East India Companies both established 
factories in this region. The English had their factory 
on Pulau Kondor, now the penal settlement of Saigon, 
establishing it there in i6i6, but a mutiny of the Com- 
pany's Macassar troops, who had been kept on after the 
expiration of the terms of their agreement, led to its 
abandonment. This, and the English factory at Petani, 
from the possession of which we were ousted by the 
Dutch, were practically the only ventures of the Com- 
pany on the shores of the China Sea. The East India 
Company of Holland founded a factory in Cochin-China 
in 1635, in competition with the Portuguese, who had 
been established there some fifty years earlier, and the 
Dutchmen had also a trading'-post at Pnom Penh, the cap- 
ital of Kambodia. To them, moreover, belongs the dis- 
tinction of having been the first to explore the interior by 
the Mekong route. In 1641 some Laos traders having 
come from Pnom Penh to Batavia in one of the Company's 
vessels. Van Dieman, the Governor, decided to attempt 
the establishment of commercial intercourse with their 
country. To this end he deputed a sub-factor named 
Gerard Van Wusthof to visit Laos, then more or less 
united under the King of Vien Chan. The story of this 



124 FURTHER INDIA 

remarkable expedition will be examined in more detail in 
a later chapter in connection with the French mission of 
1866, but it may be mentioned here that the party as- 
cended the Mekong as far as Vien Chan and resided 
there some months. This journey, however, was not 
repeated, and did not lead to the opening up of Laos, as 
in 1642 the Portuguese contrived to cause the Dutch 
factor, Jeremias de Wal, to be murdered while on a 
journey to Pnom Penh, and after that the Dutch factories 
in Cochin-China and Kambodia were abandoned. The 
Portuguese themselves never penetrated far into the in- 
terior, though an Italian missionary priest, named Leria, 
reached Vien Chan in 1642, and later travelled overland 
into Tongking. His example, however, found no imita- 
tors, and from his time until late in the last century Laos 
was not visited by missionaries. 

For a space after the departure of the Dutch the 
Portuguese who remained in possession exercised con- 
siderable influence at the Court of Kambodia and in the 
delta of the Mekong, but towards the end of the seven- 
teenth century the native officials, instigated it is said by 
China, organised a general massacre of the white men, 
dealing a blow to the power of the Portuguese in this 
region from which it never again recovered. 

From that time onward, the intercourse of Europeans 
with the lands of Indo-China was confined to the mission- 
aries and to a few visits from traders. Most of the mission- 
aries were Frenchmen, though a proportion came from 
Spain, and the latter half of the seventeenth century saw 
the growth of French influence in these regions. The 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 125 

French Bishop, Pigneau de Behaine, is the commanding 
figure in the drama. He was born in 1741, came out to 
Cochin-China, built a church at Saigon, and so won the 
confidence of the King Ngueyen Anh, afterwards better 
known as Gia Long, that he was actually entrusted with 
the custody of his son, whom he took to Paris in 1787 
and presented at the Court of Louis XVL P>ance was 
at the moment over-busy with her internal affairs, being 
as she was on the eve of the great Revolution, and be- 
yond a gift of arms and a treaty of alliance, the main pro- 
visions of which were never fulfilled, nothing tangible re- 
sulted at the time from Behaine's mission. Subsequently, 
however, the existence of this treaty was recalled to 
mind, and the fact was made a foundation upon which to 
base France's right to interfere in the affairs of Indo- 
China. 

Behaine's visit, however, attracted the attention of 
Frenchmen to this distant corner of the world, and a 
number of adventurers of that nationality visited Annam. 
By their aid and that of Behaine, King Gia Long suc- 
ceeded in conquering the whole of the ancient kingdom 
of Annam, from the Gulf of Siam to the frontiers of China, 
thus uniting under a single sceptre Cochin-China, Annam 
and Tongking. His gratitude to the white men who had 
assisted him in this work led him to show an unwonted 
measure of tolerance to the preachers of the Christian 
religion. When Behaine died in Saigon in 1 789 he was ac- 
corded a state funeral, and the monument erected by his 
patron over his grave still ranks as one of the most in- 
teresting historical relics of the place. By 1 802 Gia Long 



126 FURTHER INDIA 

had made himself master of his whole kingdom, and for 
eighteen years more he ruled it with an iron hand and 
extended open tolerance to the Christians. In 1820, 
however, he died, and his successor, Minh Meng, ex- 
pelled the French and persecuted the native Christians 
before he had been four years upon the throne. A 
second massacre of missionaries — for the Roman Catholic 
priests of the Societe des Missions Etrangeres returned 
again and again to the charge, as also did the Spanish 
missionaries, — occurred in 185 1, and a war vessel was 
sent to destroy the forts at Turon. In 1857 Bishop Diaz, 
a Spaniard, having been brutally murdered by the 
authorities, France and Spain took joint-action with the 
result that Cochin-China was invaded by a Franco-Spanish 
expedition. It was not, however, until the hand of 
France had been freed by the signing of the Treaty of 
Peking in i860, which put an end to the war with China, 
that really effective action was taken, and Cochin- China 
was ceded to France. 

Kambodia meanwhile had been invaded during the 
latter half of the eighteenth century by Siam and Annam, 
and had gradually become subservient to both. In 1857 
her King, Ang Duong, appealed for aid to France, and 
a French protectorate over the kingdom was proclaimed 
by France shortly after the accession of his successor 
Norodon in 1859. Siamese influence continued to be 
predominant at the Court of Kambodia until 1863, when 
Siam was bought out by France, the provinces of Siam- 
reap and Batambang being ceded to her without the 
knowledge or consent of the unhappy Norodon, whose 



EAST INDIA COMPANIES 127 

protests, however, were unavailing. These provinces 
had, as a matter of fact, been occupied by Siam for many 
years, and from the French point of view it was all-im- 
portant that Siam's demands should be satisfied, and that 
a clear field should be left in which the influence of 
France might operate unchecked. Captain Doudart de 
Lagree, of whom much more hereafter, occupied for 
some time the post of Resident at the Court of Kambo- 
dia, and it was on the eve of his departure on the great 
journey of exploration which cost him his life, that the 
rebellion of Pu Kombo broke out in that State. Noro- 
don was aided by French troops who rescued him from 
a precarious position in the beleaguered town of Pnom 
Penh, and this led to the increase of French ascendency, 
so that to-day though Kambodia is nominally only a 
protectorate of France, its finances and administration 
are entirely in the hands of Frenchmen. 

In Tongking a Dutch factory had been established in 
1637, but it was abandoned in 1700, and after that time 
no permanent European colony appears to have been 
formed in this kingdom. Tongking was conquered and 
annexed by Annam in 1802, after which period it was in- 
frequently visited by Europeans, save only a few mission- 
aries, until the Frenchman Dupuis, of whom something 
will be said in a later chapter, attempted to make the 
Song Koi River a highway of communication and trade 
with China. This led to interference on the part of 
France, and eventually to the practical annexation of the 
country after a period of prolonged and harassing warfare. 

The glance which we have now taken at the history of 



128 FURTHER INDIA 

European intercourse with all the lands of the great Indo- 
Chinese Peninsula, from the coming of the British and 
Dutch East India Companies to 1826 in the case of 
Burma and Siam, to the date of the active interference of 
France in the case of Cochin-China, Kambodia, Annam 
and Tongking, to the eve of British expansion in the Na- 
tive States in the case of the Malay Peninsula, — has 
been necessitated, not because it adds very materially 
to our information on the subject of the exploration of 
these countries, but because it is from these periods that 
the most important part of our story begins. The 
establishment of European supremacy, or at any rate the 
wide extension of European influence, were necessary 
preliminaries to the great task of exploring the Hinter- 
land of Indo-China which had been kept jealously closed 
to white men from the early days of the seventeenth 
century when the whole of the East not yet learned be- 
gun to fear and suspect her invaders. The true explora- 
tion of Burma dates from the appointment of a British 
Resident to Ava after the first Burmese war; that of 
Siam was a work left for accomplishment to the last 
quarter of the nineteenth century; the interior of the 
Malay Peninsula was almost entirely unknown when 
Perak and Selangor were placed under British protec- 
tion in the early seventies of the last century ; while the 
valley of the Mekong was first revealed to Europeans 
with some fulness of detail by the De Lagree-Garnier 
expedition of 1 866-1 868. It is with the last named jour- 
ney, as being at once the most important and in many 
respects the most interesting, that we shall now deal. 



CHAPTER VI 

FRANCIS GARNIER, THE MAN 

IN the preceding chapters the knowledge gained by 
Europeans of the lands of southeastern Asia has 
been traced from its earliest beginnings, in the im- 
aginary island of Chryse, the Golden, until by the seven- 
teenth century the coast-lines of the whole of the vast 
Indo-Chinese peninsula had become famiHarly known to 
the geographers and merchants of the West. Similarly 
we have followed the growth of knowledge of this part of 
the world, and the events which contributed to it, until 
in the nineteenth century the spread of European influ- 
ence in Burma, in Malaya and in Cochin-China and Kam- 
bodia opened the gates to enquiry and made the 
scientific exploration of the Hinterland a possibility. 
The work lay now ready to the hand, and of all the men 
who took a share in it and succeeded in writing their 
names large upon the maps of these regions, Francis 
Garnier, the Frenchman, the naval officer, colonial ad- 
ministrator, explorer, cartographer, man of letters and 
dreamer of dreams, is perhaps the most arresting figure. 
It is no part of my present plan to attempt a biography 
of Francis Garnier ; our concern is with his achievement 
rather than with his character. Yet in order that a true 
appreciation of the former may be arrived at, something 
must be known of the latter. Its keynote is to be 

129 



130 FURTHER INDIA 

found in the strong constructive imagination of the man, 
in his abihty to plan and to organise, in his tireless energy, 
mental and physical, in a certain largeness of view and 
quenchless enthusiasm, and withal in an inspiring nobility 
of spirit. Garnier was born at Saint-Etienne in 1839, but 
he was brought up at Montpellier within sight of the 
sea, which early exercised over him a great fascina- 
tion. He was educated at the naval college at Brest, 
into which he passed eleventh out of a hundred successful 
candidates, and from which he in due time entered the 
regular service after gaining distinction in the examina- 
tions. It is immediately prior to his maiden voyage as a 
naval officer that we get the first, and as I think, the most 
illuminating glimpse of Francis Garnier the man. It 
comes to us from certain boyish letters addressed to a 
friend, and though his opinions are of a nature little flat- 
tering to our national self-esteem, they may stand as a 
picture of a young Frenchman of the best type in early 
manhood. There are crudities and absurdities in every 
line. Facts and fictions are accepted at second-hand 
without enquiry or examination, without test or proof. 
Passionately patriotic, Garnier is here seen to be the vic- 
tim of the hate that is ever the fringe of love, and the 
rank injustice of the verdicts into which it betrays him is 
too exaggerated to arouse anything save amusement. 
None the less, Garnier's letters, penned at the age of 
twenty, are instructive. They show the creed of anglo- 
phobia in which, it is to be feared, too many young 
Frenchmen are educated, and though it so chanced that 
their author in after life won enough of experience where- 




Francis Garnier 



FRANCIS GARNIER 131 

with to correct his earHer impressions, it is melancholy to 
remember that many others, who have imbibed the same 
opinions in youth, have never had occasion or opportu- 
nity to revise and alter them. The inherited and unrea- 
soning dislike of the average English schoolboy for 
Frenchmen is undeniably strong, but it is of a wholly 
different brand to the hate which here may be seen to in- 
spire the opinions of Francis Gamier ; and the ordinary 
Englishman of our own time puts such prejudices off 
when he comes to man's estate together with other things 
of the child. The fervid virulence of angry hate which 
finds its expression in the following quotations has no 
home among ourselves, and the mere fact that we are in- 
clined to laugh at such frenzies unquestionably adds fuel 
to the flame. It is the Englishman's almost contemptu- 
ous indifference to the dislike of which he is the object, 
and his inability to return the sentiment in kind, which 
contribute so largely to his unpopularity abroad. 

But Garnier's tirade, for all its insensate hatred of Eng- 
land, for all its boyishness, all its folly, gives token of 
other more estimable qualities. There is here the enthu- 
siasm, the optimism, the tremendous self-confidence, the 
generous ambition which are bred of youth and inexpe- 
rience, and above all we see Gamier in the character that 
made him great, as the dreamer of dreams who is yet a 
man of action bent upon giving concrete form to his im- 
aginings. His aim was nothing less than the total 
destruction of England, and he hoped to that end to form 
a confraternity which should bring about a consummation 
so devoutly to be wished. 



132 FURTHER INDIA 

" I tell you," he writes to M. Joseph Perre, his lifelong 
friend, " that if there be manufacturers with enough heart 
and intelligence to apply themselves to the impoverish- 
ment of Protestant England, — men who understand suffi- 
ciently well the interests of civilisation and of France to 
desire to diminish England's commerce and influence, — 
there are also young men of sufficient courage, energy, 
and will to work for an even more difficult end. Ideal, 
do you call it ? But not impossible for them ; and this 
end is to overthrow her utterly and to strike her name 
from the ranks of the nations. 

" What young and ardent soul is there that is not, dur- 
ing its hours of aspiration after the beautiful and the 
great, smitten with some noble idea, some immense and 
magnificent aim ? What young man is there who, in the 
solitude of his soul, has not dreamed of the means 
whereby he may attain the pure and radiant crown of 
glory which encircles the brows of those philanthropists 
who have passed obscure lives in the most toilsome 
labours in order to ameHorate the lot of their kind ? But 
soon the vortex of the world and the selfish interests 
which govern it efface the vividness of these impressions, 
tarnish them, cause them to be forgotten, and so, becom- 
ing sensible, as it is called, one loses the illusions and the 
dreams of youth. 

" For those of whom I speak to you it has not been 
thus. The idea which appealed to them was that of civi- 
lisation in general and of the regeneration of mankind in 
certain countries in particular. 

" Behold France, the arbiter of Europe, making use of 




T < \\ k I 



"\:-A.r?^^f-\V 










\ .,„„ 



■'r 



•,^ 



h. 



;^-- ^Wv.-,V-#4\ .^^.i^-,.,^^^ 




Further India, 1840 

From Lizar's Edinburgh Map 



f 



FRANCIS GARNIER 133 

her influence only for the happiness and for the moral 
improvement of the peoples. Behold her spreading 
everywhere, whither her arms have penetrated, benefits 
and civilisation, pacifying all confusions, appeasing all 
quarrels, making the peoples abroad listen always to her 
solemn voice when it has become necessary to make 
others respect the rights of misunderstood men. 

" Now look at England astonishing the nineteenth 
century by her influence and her expansion. Go to 
India, visit this country ruined and impoverished by the 
plunderings of the English Company. See the lands lying 
waste, the canals dried up, the natives brutalised by a de- 
grading yoke, deprived of almost all the rights of the 
native and the citizen, and ask yourself if this is the 
country which of old was the centre of Asiatic civilisa- 
tion, which was renowned for her wealth, her fertility and 
for the might of her inhabitants. Is this the part which 
a civilised nation ought to play towards a vanquished 
people ? Has England fulfilled the duty which her very 
conquest imposed upon her? Go everywhere else 
throughout the English Colonies, and you will find only 
misery, despair and forced labour designed to satisfy an 
insatiable metropolis. Examine modern history. Who 
was not disgusted when the Parliament of London de- 
clared war on China because her Emperor forbade to his 
subjects the use of the opium that was killing them, 
action which was taken because the edict diminished a 
trade of which England had the monopoly and the profit. 
What honest heart was there that was not made indig- 
nant when, profiting in cowardly fashion by the superior- 



134 FURTHER INDIA 

ity of her arms, England forced the Chinese Emperor to 
revoke his edict, and so to sanction the poisoning of three 
hundred millions of men ? But what did this matter to 
London ? She had a few miUions more. I say nothing 
to you of the role which the British Cabinet has played 
and is playing in Italy, nor of the insults which Lord 
Palmerston lavished upon a white-haired old man ! All 
the iniquities of English poHcy have for the rest been 
eloquently denounced by M. de Montalembert in France 
and by Mr. Brownson of the United States, and to them 
I refer you. 

" And this is the conclusion at which the young men 
of whom I spoke to you just now have arrived after an 
examination of a situation which I have been unable even 
to sketch for you : it is that such a country, such a dis- 
gusting picture of disorder and of immorahty, such a 
spectacle of all the miseries, the theatre of all the crimes 
which afflict and degrade humanity, a country which 
breathes corruption upon the world, a country whose 
Machiavellian Government has lies and cowardice for its 
policy, that England, in a word, the infamous melting- 
pot in which the lives of men are exploited for the profit 
of the few, in which, for the enrichment of the two mil- 
lions of individuals who compose the English aristocracy 
and Government, one hundred and fifty millions of men 
waste now and always their sweat and their blood, having 
only misery, despair, and corruption for their bed, living 
and dying like brutes — that this country, I say, which 
presents to the very nineteenth century human degrada- 
tion on so vast a scale, ought to be put under the ban of 



FRANCIS GARNIER 135 

the nations so that such a monstrous abuse of force be 
made to cease. 

" These young men have told themselves that Europe 
will never be peaceful or happy while such a monster 
stirs in her breast and sheds upon it its venom, and they 
have devoted themselves to a task, slow, patient, but 
active, the task of overthrowing her ! In making an ap- 
peal to unknown races and to the indignation of man- 
kind, to those who have no definite end in view, to those 
whose energy stands in need of a stimulant, they have 
hoped to succeed. Only a sailor " — a delightfully youthful 
and naive touch this ! — " can thoroughly understand all the 
chances of success of the plan which they are already be- 
ginning to put into execution. 

" We shall fail perhaps ; but we will die in the en- 
deavour, and that which a nation dares not try to ac- 
complish we, at least, shall have the glory of having at- 
tempted. Mon Dieu ! I know that at first sight the en- 
terprise seems foolish. England, you will say, is a Co- 
lossus. Granted, but her feet are rotten. Shake her and 
she will fall. England is universally execrated, and in 
our day public opinion makes and unmakes empires. 
When Tell and his two comrades swore in the darkness 
to give back her liberty to their country, was not the en- 
terprise a folly? We, we desire to restore liberty to the 
world, and the world will be on our side, for it groans 
and laments under the painful restraint, the constant 
encroachments, which this nest of pirates and robbers, 
having become powerful, imposes upon it and makes on 
every occasion." 



136 FURTHER INDIA 

It is impossible to imagine a letter such as this coming 
from the pen of an English youngster, and our insular 
self-complacency tempts us to the inference that some- 
thing resembling a subconscious sense of inferiority is 
responsible for this and for other similar tirades. There 
is an almost hysterical note in this young Cato's reiterated 
Delenda est Carthago, but behind the rodomontade is to 
be detected the man of ideas and enthusiasms, the man 
who can conceive great schemes, who is not to be 
daunted by difficulties, or even by impossibilities, and 
who, not content with dreaming, is bent upon immediate, 
energetic and decisive action. This is the Francis Gamier 
who, in his riper maturity, when the vainglorious follies 
of youth had been set aside, and his powers and views 
had been tested by experience did such magnificent work 
for France and for science in the Hinterlands of Indo- 
China. It is satisfactory, too, and creditable to Garnier's 
impartiality, powers of observation and good sense, that 
when at a later date he visited the India, of which in his 
boyhood so deplorable an account had reached him, he 
puts aside his preconceived prejudices and writes as fol- 
lows of the British administration of Hindustan. 

" Thanks to the genius of Dupleix, the French were 
able to dream for a season of gaining supremacy over all 
this vast and rich peninsula. But a more persevering 
and more fortunate nation has reaped what they sowed. 
England has at last succeeded in founding from Cape 
Comorin to the Himalayas a flourishing empire of two 
hundred millions of men. Taught by the hard lessons 
of a costly experience, she has seriously undertaken to 



FRANCIS GARNIER 137 

reconcile the elder branch of our race with its younger 
European branch. Purely mercantile preoccupations 
have given place to speculations of a more elevated de- 
scription. To material has succeeded moral conquest 
which, marching with the torch of science in hand, 
strives to destroy prejudices, to dissipate misunderstand- 
ings, and invites the vanquished to enjoy all the advantages 
of a generous civilisation. One cannot but admire the 
magnificent ensemble of researches and of deeds which have 
adorned the efforts of English colonisation. Conquests 
thus justified are a benefit to those who submit to them 
and to all mankind. They are the only conquests of the 
kind which our era has witnessed." 

In this passage we have again the enthusiasm, the love 
of that which is good which always distinguished Francis 
Garnier, and those of us who know the East must admit 
that once more his fiery imagination and his inchnation 
to indulge in dreams caused him to do our countrymen 
something more, as he had formerly done them some- 
what less, than justice. If England's main task be that 
of reconciling the peoples of the East with those of the 
West it may be questioned whether she has accomplished 
much more than a magnificent and generous failure. We 
do not like Francis Garnier any the worse, however, be- 
cause when he became a convert to admiration of 
England his impulsive and enthusiastic nature carried 
him somewhat beyond the prosaic facts and betrayed him 
into some exaggeration. Nor can we avoid being flat- 
tered when at a later date we find this whilom Anglo- 
phobe, who by a thousand proofs showed himself a 



138 FURTHER INDIA 

patriotic, loyal and loving son of France, marrying an 
English wife, and once in the bitterness of his soul, echo- 
ing unconsciously the sentiment of the great Voltaire, 
" What a misfortune it is that I was not born an English- 
man ! With them I should have been a man at once 
powerful and honoured ! As bad luck will have it, how- 
ever, I cannot make up my mind to be no longer a 
Frenchman ! " 

Such was the man the story of whose explorations in 
the Indo-Chinese peninsula we shall presently examine, 
but before we pass on to this part of our subject we must 
trace in as few words as possible the history of his con- 
nection with the regions with which his name was des- 
tined to be so intimately associated. 

On January 9th, i860. Gamier, having volunteered for 
service with the naval expedition then about to sail for 
China, left Toulon on board the Duperrey and on his out- 
ward voyage earned distinction by an exhibition of more 
than usual courage. At 1 1 p. m., on May 30th, when the 
vessel was running some five knots an hour, and the night 
was very dark, the cry was raised that a man had fallen 
overboard. Gamier instantly threw himself into the sea, 
seized the Hfe-buoy which was cast after him, swam with 
it to the drowning sailor, and succeeded in supporting 
him until a boat lowered from the ship had the good luck 
to find him and the man whom he had saved. An act of 
this kind, which draws its inspiration from no feeling of 
personal devotion or affection for the man for whom the 
terrible risk is run, which is not born of the intoxication 
of battle, which can draw no stimulus from the plaudits 



FRANCIS GARNIER 139 

of spectators, argues the possession of a resolution, an un- 
selfish and steady bravery, such as is found only in very 
exceptional men, and all will agree that Garnier richly 
deserved the promotion to the rank of ensign which was 
immediately given to him as a reward of his valour. 
This was his first opportunity for making his merit 
known, and he had seized it in a noble fashion. Vice- 
Admiral Charnier at once attached him to his Staff, upon 
which he served during the whole of the war with China. 

In October, i860, the treaty of peace was signed in 
Peking, and the French Government was able at last to 
turn its attention towards Saigon. This place had been 
captured by a joint Franco-Spanish expedition in Febru- 
ary, 1859, as also had the harbour of Turon, but owing to 
the inadequate force at the disposal of the authorities dur- 
ing the war with China, the latter had to be abandoned in 
March, i860, and the retreat at once inspired the natives 
of Cochin-China with the hope that they might succeed in 
dislodging the French. The Emperor issued a proclama- 
tion in which he said : 

" Behold they have departed, these noxious and greedy 
beings who have no inspiration save evil, no aim save 
sordid gain ! They have departed, these pirates who de- 
vour human flesh, and who fashion garments from the 
skins of those whom they have eaten ! Put to flight by 
our valiant soldiers, they have shamefully saved them- 
selves ! " 

Thus encouraged, the forces of Cochin-China beset 
Saigon, in overwhelming numbers the city was then garri- 
soned by only 800 men, of whom a fourth were Spaniards, 



140 FURTHER INDIA 

aided by two corvets and four despatch-boats. In July 
two night-attacks were made, but the little force repulsed 
them with considerable slaughter, and after that, though 
Saigon was closely invested, no attempt to take it of any 
determined character was made. The innate inefficiency 
of the Oriental to which, more than to the prowess of the 
white races, is due the conquest of the East by the West, 
resulted, as it had so often resulted, in delay when 
all depended upon no time being wasted, in aim- 
less manoeuvres when the only chance of success 
lay in striking a decisive blow. In the months dur- 
ing which the httle force, completely isolated, and 
without any immediate prospect of succour, held out in- 
side Saigon, the fate of Cochin-China was sealed. Her 
people had their opportunity, which circumstances com- 
bined to render unwontedly favourable, and failing to take 
it a similar chance of success nevet again presented itself. 
In February, 1861, Admiral Charnier, upon whose 
Staff Francis Gamier was still serving, arrived at Saigon 
with a large force which included 230 Spaniards and a 
corps of native Christians who had been recruited at 
Turon. The siege was raised in triumphant fashion, 
more than a thousand of the enemy being killed in an 
engagement in which the French lost only twelve men 
killed and 2 1 3 wounded, and in which Gamier had the good 
fortune to distinguish himself under the eyes of the Ad- 
miral. He was present later at the taking of Mytho, and 
had the satisfaction of seeing the real work of conquest 
accomplished before he returned to France with Charnier 
in the following October, 



FRANCIS GARNIER 141 

In France he devoted himself to study, chiefly of an 
historical, geographical and scientific character, and to the 
dull round of his routine duties. His recent experiences 
had served only to whet his appetite for adventure ; the 
glamour of the East had cast its spell upon him ; the 
mystery of lands in which no white man had set foot 
since the beginning of things had fired his imagination ; 
the itch of travel was upon him, goading him to restless- 
ness. The reaction of the enforced inactivity to which he 
was now condemned irked him, seemed the veriest bathos 
after the experiences of the strenuous days in which he 
had delighted. " I am in Lower Brittany," he writes to 
M. Perre, " occupied in drilling marine riflemen for seven 
hours a day, a task which develops one's intelligence very 
little and satisfies one's heart even less ! " So depressing 
was the life which he now was leading that he speaks, in 
true French fashion, of the final setting of " his star," and 
seems even to have thought of throwing up the naval 
service. 

The young officer, however, had already made his 
mark, and when the conquest of Cochin-China was accom- 
plished, and the Treaty of June, 1862, had been signed 
between France and the Court of Hue, Gamier was re- 
membered, and was presently appointed inspector of Na- 
tive Affairs in the new colony. By this Treaty the 
Provinces of Bien-Hoa, Gia-Dinh (Saigon), Dinh-Tuong 
(Mytho), and the island of Kondor were ceded to France ; 
the free exercise of the Christian religion by all who de- 
sired to adopt it was formally permitted ; French war- 
ships were granted access to the Mekong River, and 



142 FURTHER INDIA 

French merchants were given the right of trading upon 
its banks. An indemnity of four milHon dollars was also 
paid by the Emperor of Annam. 

Gamier reached Saigon in 1863, and though he was 
still a youth of barely twenty-four years of age, he was 
appointed to the charge of Cholen, a suburb of Saigon. 
His post was now what we should call that of District 
Officer, though he was more under-staffed than is usual 
with even our short-handed administrations, and appears 
to have combined in his own person the duties of half-a- 
dozen offices. He paid special attention to public works, 
and his rule of the little town was characterised by the 
energy, the enthusiasm and the imagination which dis- 
tinguished everything to which he set his hand. He 
early perceived that the country ceded to France had no 
natural boundaries, and that an extension of territory was 
imperatively necessary in the interests of the new colony. 
This view he expressed repeatedly both in his private 
and official writings, and though an Annamite embassy 
to Paris in 1863 all but succeeded in persuading France 
to relinquish her conquests. Admiral de la Grandiere, the 
Governor of Cochin-China, contrived in 1867 to obtain 
permission to annex Vinh-Long, Sadec, Chandoc, and 
Hatien. 

It was while he was at Cholen that the idea of explor- 
ing in detail the Hinterland of Indo-China first presented 
itself to Francis Garnier as a definite scheme. France 
had now established her supremacy on the delta of the 
Mekong — that " Captain of all the Rivers," as Linschoten 
named it, — and to Garnier, the man of strong imagina- 




Doudart de Lagree 



FRANCIS GARNIER 143 

tion, that mighty stream flowing out of the heart of the 
land, whence no one precisely knew, was the propounder 
of a tremendous riddle. The fascination of the Unknown, 
for those whom it has no power to awe and discourage, 
is a force greater, perhaps, than aught else, and Garnier's 
was a nature to which it made an appeal more than 
usually vivid. A dreamer of dreams he saw visions of an 
empire won for France which might equal, if not trans- 
cend, the empire which Give had wrested from the hold 
of Dupleix ; a statesman bent upon developing the re- 
sources of the colonies which France had already con- 
quered, he thought to find in the upper reaches of the 
Mekong a trade-route which should divert the commerce 
of the Chinese Empire from her own coast-ports to those 
of French Indo-China ; a man of science who loved 
knowledge for its own sake, he longed to learn the se- 
crets hidden so closely since the beginning by that un- 
trodden wilderness. His official memoranda embodied 
the earliest proposals for the exploration of the valley of 
the Mekong, and the matter excited the interests of the 
authorities in France and on the spot. It was not until 
June 1st, 1866, that his representations were translated 
into action, and then he was considered to be too junior 
in years and service to be entrusted with the chief com- 
mand of the expedition which owed its inception to his 
energy and imaginative foresight. 

The leadership of the party was vested in M. Doudart 
de Lagree, a post-captain in the French navy, who was 
then holding the important position of what we should 
call " Political Agent " at the Court of Norodon, King 



144 FURTHER INDIA 

of Kambodia, the protectorate over whose country had 
been declared by France largely as the result of the in- 
fluence which her agent had acquired. Garnier occupied 
the post of second in command, and to him was entrusted 
the geographical, astronomical and meteorological work 
of the expedition. He was instructed to determine the 
precise positions of all points of importance, to make a 
map of the country traversed, to take soundings and 
ascertain the navigability of the rivers, to note the means 
of navigation employed by the various native tribes, and 
to compare the advantages presented by the river and the 
neighbouring land-routes. The other members of the 
expedition were M. Thorel, a naval medical officer, who 
was the botanist of the party; M. Louis Delaporte, a 
naval ensign, who was a clever artist ; M. Eugene Joubert, 
another medical officer, a geologist; and M. Louis de 
Carne, an officer attached to the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, who owed his selection to the fact that he was re- 
lated to the Governor of Indo-China. De Lagree took 
with him also a sergeant of marines named Charbonnier, 
who spoke Siamese and Annamite, a private of marines, 
and two sailors. The expedition was moreover accom- 
panied by a number of native interpreters. 

On June 5th, 1866, the little band of white men left 
Saigon on the first organised journey of exploration ever 
made by Europeans into the more remote portions of the 
unknown Hinterland of Indo-China, from the shores of 
the China Sea. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE PROBLEM OF THE KHMER CIVILISATION 

A DESPATCH-BOAT had been sent to Bangkok 
by the Colonial Government for the purpose of 
obtaining passports and a supply of Siamese 
money of which the expedition would stand in need 
when it quitted Kambodian territory and began to make 
its way through districts under the dominion of Siam. 
Pending the return of this vessel, the main design of the 
explorers — the ascent of the Mekong to its source — 
could not be proceeded with, and De Lagree decided to 
utilise the time of forced inactivity by paying a visit to 
the immense ruins of Angkor, the most remarkable of 
the many relics of a forgotten civilisation which are to 
be found scattered throughout Kambodia, in the districts 
of Siamreap and Batambang (which had been wrested 
from that kingdom by Siam), and in some parts of the 
Laos country. De Lagree, while serving as political 
officer in Kambodia, had visited Angkor on more than 
one occasion, and had taken a scientific interest in its 
monuments and in the problems which they present for 
solution. Neither he nor any of his companions, how- 
ever, can claim to be regarded as in any sense the dis- 
coverers of these ruins, their existence having first become 
known to Europeans as early as 15 70, as we shall pres- 
ently see. None the less, the accident of their sojourn at 

M5 



146 FURTHER INDIA 

Angkor affords us a convenient opportunity of taking in 
this place a rapid glance at the ruins themselves, at the 
few facts concerning them which can now be ascertained, 
and at the theories, conjectures, and surmises, to which 
they have given birth. 

The expedition steamed up the Mekong to Pnom 
Penh, the point at which the branch of the great Kam- 
bodian lake of Tonli-Sap falls into the river on its right 
bank, and thence up the whole length of the lake to its 
northern extremity. Here, about a couple of miles in- 
land, standing isolated in the centre of a plain, is a small 
hill crowned by two peaks, the higher of which is 
covered by a grove. Within this are the ruins of an ancient 
temple — the Pagoda of Mount Krom — overgrown, al- 
most hidden by vegetation, but displaying to the eye of 
the astonished traveller its graceful towers, its wealth 
of sculpture, its bas-reliefs and its gigantic stone fig- 
ures, intact or pitifully broken and defaced. It is a 
wonderful sensation — as all who have experienced it bear 
witness — to come thus suddenly, without the smallest 
preparation, after travelling for weeks through a wilder- 
ness of forest broken by nothing more imposing than a 
cluster of thatched huts, upon this beautiful work of art, 
whereof the graceful Hnes, the slender domes and arches, 
the delicate detail of the carving, all attest the high culture 
and civilisation of the men who wrought so greatly. 

A few miles further on, between Mount Krom and 
Angkor, lies the modern town of Siamreap, an unsightly 
collection of hovels dominated by the stone fort occupied 
at the time of Garnier's visit by the Siamese Governor of 



KHMER CIVILISATION 147 

the province and his body-guard. Leaving this place be- 
hind him the traveller passes once more into the forest, 
and then, again without a moment's warning, comes face 
to face with the magnificent temple of Angkor Wat. 
The force of the contrast between the apparently prime- 
val forest and this finished work of man is tremendous 
and dramatic. Its unexpectedness and the isolation of its 
situation give to the ruined temple an impressiveness 
such as even its beauty and its immensity could not other- 
wise claim, yet these are in themselves sufficient to 
fire the most languid imagination. " Its endless stair- 
cases and galleries," writes Garnier, " its inner courts and 
colonnades of an uniform aspect appeared to me, in spite of 
their symmetry, or rather because of their very symmetry, 
to form an inextricable labyrinth. The enormous pro- 
portions of each part of this great entity prevented one 
from taking in the whole. ... It required some 
time to appreciate the exact disposition of an edifice 
which measures, within ditches, five and a half kilometres 
(over three miles) in circumference." 

This immense building is constructed of sandstone 
brought from quarries distant some twenty-five miles. 
Some of the blocks are of great size, weighing more than 
eight tons, and though no cement was used, they are 
fitted together with so nice an accuracy that a line traced 
on a piece of paper laid over the junction between two 
stones is as straight as though it had been ruled. What 
were the mechanical contrivances by means of which these 
huge blocks of stone were cut, were transported to the 
site selected for the temple, and were hoisted into their 



148 FURTHER INDIA 

destined places in the building, is a riddle to which it is 
by no means easy to supply an answer, but the amount 
of human labour at the disposal of the architects must 
have been enormous, and the civilisation which could con- 
ceive such designs and could carry them into successful 
execution must have attained to a very high standard. 

Even more astonishing than the Titanic character of 
the ruins is the wealth of beautiful detail which they dis- 
play. Almost every individual stone is curiously carved. 
Statues of immense proportions, figures of Buddha, of 
giants and kings, of lions, dragons, and fabulous monsters 
abound. The bas-reliefs show processions of warriors 
mounted on birds, on horses, tigers, elephants, and on 
legendary animals, combats between the king of the apes 
and the king of the angels, boats filled with long-bearded 
.rowers some of them dressed in the Chinese fashion, cock- 
fights, women at play with their little ones, soldiers armed 
with bows, with javelins, sabres, and halberts, and in- 
numerable other scenes. The men who wrought these 
carvings must have been possessed by a veritable passion 
for artistic presentment, by a love of art for its own sake 
such as would seem to argue a degree of intellectual re- 
finement which has no counterpart among the peoples of 
the Indo-Chinese peninsula in our own day. 

About two and a half miles north of Angkor Wat is 
another ruined temple — the Pagoda of Mount Bakheng — 
standing like that of Mount Krom on the summit of a hill, 
the foot of which is guarded by two magnificent stone 
lions, each formed with its pedestal out of a single block 
of stone. A broken stairway leads to the cap of the hill, 




^^(^'^^^^ ^N*s^ 




O a 

^ S 

^ t 

'-I 2 
in 



KHMER CIVILISATION 149 

" whence," writes Henri Mouhot, " is to be enjoyed a 
view so beautiful and extensive that it is not surprising 
that these people, who have shown so much taste in their 
buildings, should have chosen it for a site. On the one 
side you gaze upon the wooded plain and the pyramidal 
temple of Ongcor, with its rich colonnades, the mountain 
of Crome, which is beyond the new city (Siamreap), the 
view losing itself in the waters of the great lake on the 
horizon. On the opposite side stretches the long chain 
of mountains whose quarries, they say, furnished the 
beautiful stone used for the temples ; and amidst thick 
forests, which extend along the base, is a pretty, small 
lake, which looks like a blue ribbon on a carpet of ver- 
dure. All this region is now as lonely and deserted as 
formerly it must have been full of life and cheerfulness ; 
and the howling of wild animals and the cries of a few 
birds, alone disturb the solitude." 

The temple of Mount Bakheng is obviously the most 
ancient of the Angkor ruins, just as the great temple of 
Angkor Wat is plainly the most recent ; in the former 
the idols are somewhat rudely fashioned, and would seem 
to belong to a period when the art of the Khmers was in 
its infancy and had not yet attained to the delicacy and 
precision of a later age. 

All the buildings hitherto mentioned were designed 
only as places of worship, and as such bear unmistakeable 
testimony to the religious enthusiasm which animated the 
people who fashioned and conceived them. Half a mile 
beyond Bakheng, however, ruins of a wholly different 
character are met with. Here, though temples are not 



ISO FURTHER INDIA 

lacking, most of the edifices were built for the accommo- 
dation or the protection of man, for this is Angkor Thom 
— Great Angkor — once the capital of a mighty empire. 
" The outer wall," says Mouhot, " is composed of blocks 
of ferruginous stone, and extends right and left from the 
entrance. It is about twenty-four miles square (sic), three 
metres eighty centimetres thick, and seven metres high, 
and serves as a support to a glacis which rises almost 
from the top." An ancient road, in which, though it is 
partly obliterated, the ruts ploughed by the heavy traffic 
of a bygone age are still descernible, leads to the main 
entrance across a wide ditch full of the debris of broken 
columns, portions of carved lions and elephants, and fallen 
blocks of stone. The portal is an arch some sixty feet in 
height surmounted by four immense heads, described by 
Mouhot as being " in the Egyptian style," these and the 
whole building being constructed of sandstone. At each 
of the four corners of the great rectangular city there is 
another gate, and there is a sixth on the east side. 
Within the vast enclosure formed by the walls the forest 
riots wantonly — an inextricable tangle of grey-black 
trunks and spreading branches, of striving saplings, dense 
underwood, twining creepers and hanging curtains of 
parasitic growths, such as only the warm moist earth can 
produce in these prolific tropical lands. Hidden under 
this splendid pall of verdure, reverently concealed beneath 
God's green coverlet, lies the city of the dead. Here are 
pagodas, now the lairs of forest creatures, in which men 
of a forgotten generation put up their prayer or plaint, 
houses in which they were born, in which they lived and 



KHMER CIVILISATION 151 

planned and loved and laboured and quarrelled and suf- 
fered and died, the great store-treasuries which held the 
wealth of an empire, the gorgeous palaces within which 
dwelt kings and the fathers of kings. 

" They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 
The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep : 

And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep." 

The romance, the wonder of the lost story of this once 
great city, — of the lives of the men and women who 
dwelt in it, — of the hopes and the ambitions, the passions 
and the desires, the joys and the sorrows, of the thousand 
trivial, but to them all-important, happenings which made 
up their myriad individual Hves, even more than the 
thought of the great catastrophe which must have brought 
destruction upon them, grips you here " at the quiet 
limits of the world," as you look upon the traces they 
have left behind them — the silent stones, wrought with 
such love and labour, mouldering under the calm dome 
of the slumbering forest. With eager curiosity you 
grope amid the lumber of the centuries, seeking some hint 
that shall have the power to breathe the spark of life into 
this buried skeleton of majesty; but when you have 
learned all that is at present known the enigma remains 
unsolved, and the conclusions indicated are of a character 
little calculated to satisfy the judgment of those who 
know Asia only at second-hand. 

The earliest known record of Angkor is found in the 
work of an anonymous Chinese diplomat, who in 1295 



152 FURTHER INDIA 

was ordered by the Emperor of China to proceed to the 
kingdom of Chin-La, the name by which Kambodia was 
then known. His book has been translated by M. Abel- 
Re musat, in whose Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiques it oc- 
cupied a prominent place. The author tells us that he 
was entrusted with the duty of promulgating certain or- 
ders of his Emperor (Kublai Kaan) in Kambodia, over 
which State China exercised something in the nature of 
suzerainty ; that he left Ming-Cheu in the second month 
of the year following the reception by him of the imperial 
instructions — that is to say in 1296 — travelled thence to 
the port of Wen-Chu, whence he put out to sea on the 
20th day of the same month. On the 15th day of 
the third moon — namely twenty-five days later — he ar- 
rived off the coast of Cochin-China, but he relates that he 
then encountered such adverse winds that he did not 
succeed in reaching his destination until the seventh 
moon. He returned to China, once more travelling by 
sea, in 1 297. It is worthy of notice, in view of the hopes 
so persistently entertained by the French administration 
of Indo-China of tapping the trade of the Celestial Em- 
pire by means of the Mekong, the Red River, or some 
other inland route, that even when Kambodia was a 
flourishing and highly civilised kingdom, communication 
between it and China was maintained by sea, and not via 
the Provinces of Yun-nan or Kwang-si. 

The Chinese ambassador next gives us a detailed ac- 
count of the capital of Kambodia, in which mention is 
made of the rectangular shape of the town, the high 
wall by which it is encompassed, the two gates on the 



.^ 



KHMER CIVILISATION 153 

eastern face, and the great Causeway of Giants which 
leads to the western entrance, and which, even in ruins, 
is so remarkable a feature of Angkor. He also mentions 
particularly a temple without the walls, which even then 
was accounted very ancient, and which according to the 
legend current in his day was built by one Lu-pan in the 
space of a single night. This would appear to be the 
pagoda of Mount Bakheng. On the other hand, the 
Chinese author speaks of two lakes, one on the east of 
the town about lOO li in circumference, and another, the 
dimensions of which are not given, some five li to the 
north. Only one such lake is now in existence, and this 
is not easily to be identified with either of those men- 
tioned by the ambassador from China. Angkor Wat, 
the immense temple which from internal evidence is 
proved to be the most recent of the Angkor ruins, is not 
spoken of, and we are therefore driven to conclude either 
that it had not been built by the year 1 296, or that a de- 
scription of it was omitted by accident, or, as has been 
suggested, that the Kambodian capital described in the 
Chinese manuscript is some place other than Angkor. 
Before entering into a discussion of this point, however, 
it will be more convenient in the first instance to un- 
dertake an examination of the references to the ruins 
which occur after the invasion of the East by the peoples 
of Europe. 

The discovery of the ruins of Angkor is stated by 
Christoval de Jaque, who in a book published in 1606 
gives an account of travels in Indo-China undertaken by 
him between 1592 and 1598, to have been made in 1570. 



154 FURTHER INDIA 

" It is surrounded," he says, " by a strong wall which is 
four leagues in circumference, of which the battlements 
are carved with great care," and he gives to this place 
the name of Anjog, which would seem to be sufficient to 
identify it with Angkor even if he did not also furnish 
recognisable descriptions of the Causeway of the Giants 
and other remarkable features of the ruins. He states 
too — a fact which deserves special attention — that even 
in 1570 many of the inscriptions at Anjog were written 
in a tongue which none of the natives understood or 
could interpret. 

In his History of the Islands of the Archipelago, pub- 
lished five years before de Jaque's work, Ribadeneyra 
also notices these ruins. He says, " There are in Cam- 
bodia the ruins of an ancient city, which some say was 
constructed by the Romans or by Alexander the Great. 
It is a marvellous fact that none of the natives can live in 
these ruins, which are the resort of wild beasts. These 
Gentiles have a tradition that the ruins will some day be 
restored by a foreign nation." 

In 1672 there occurs another mention of Angkor in 
the work of a French missionary named Pere Chevruel. 
" There is an ancient and very celebrated temple," he 
says, " situated at a distance of eight days from the place 
where I live. This temple is called Onco, and it is as 
famous among the Gentiles as St. Peter's at Rome;" and 
he adds that in his time pilgrimages were made to it from 
Siam, Pegu, Laos and Tenasserim. 

From these accounts of Angkor it will be seen that 
when the place was first discovered by Europeans in 1570 



KHMER CIVILISATION 155 

it was as ruined, as deserted, as much given over to the 
forest and the beasts of the jungle, as completely a mon- 
ument of a prehistoric past, as it is in our own day. If 
then we are to accept the work of the anonymous Chinese 
official as an authentic account of Angkor Thom at the 
end of the thirteenth century, we must ask ourselves to 
beHeve that this mighty civilisation, whereof its mag- 
nificent architecture was the ripened fruit, not only de- 
clined and perished, but passed into oblivion all within a 
space of less than 280 years. Nay, more than this : for if 
the omission of any description of the temple of Angkor 
Wat from the account given in the Chinese manuscript is 
to be taken as evidence that that splendid edifice, which 
was of a kind little likely to escape attention, had not 
yet been built at the time of the ambassador's visit, we 
must believe that the Khmer civilisation reached its point 
of culmination at some period in the fourteenth century 
at the earliest, and nevertheless was thereafter obliterated 
so effectually that in less than 200 years it had left behind 
it hardly so much as a tradition. 

Apart from the more obvious difficulties in the way of 
accepting any such supposition, the inscriptions found on 
many of the monuments of Angkor preseht an additional 
obstacle to the adoption of this conclusion. These in- 
scriptions are of two kinds, the one written in a character 
similar to that now in use among the Kambodians, 
the other in a strange, and as it is thought, an older 
character which is unintelligible to even the most learned 
natives of the country. The former can be deciphered 
with little difficulty by the Buddhist monks, but un- 



156 FURTHER INDIA 

fortunately the inscriptions of this class are devoid of 
historical interest or importance, being chiefly religious 
formulae, prayers, invocations, and the like. The remain- 
ing inscriptions have of late years been studied by a 
number of learned Frenchmen, but, so far as can be 
judged from the published results, they have not yet 
served to throw much new light upon the lost history of the 
Khmer empire. It is deserving of attention, however, 
that both kinds of inscription are found on the walls of 
Angkor Wat, although that temple is admittedly the 
most recent of all the buildings at Angkor. At the first 
glance this would seem to indicate that even the least 
ancient of the Khmer ruins was built in an age of great 
antiquity when a language, now forgotten, was in use. 
This conclusion, however, is open to question, for in the 
East from time immemorial the various priesthoods of 
Asia have always favoured the adoption of some ancient 
tongue as the special language of religion — usually some 
language which was not generally understood by the 
people. India alone gives three notable instances of this, 
while the Kawi was the religious language of Hindu Java, 
just as Latin is the language of the Roman Catholic 
Church and Arabic that of the Muhammadan faith. It 
is at any rate possible, therefore, that the inscriptions 
written in the older character were never legible by the 
commonalty in Kambodia, their interpretation being the 
exclusive privilege of the priesthood, and if this were so, 
it would account for the presence of the unknown char- 
acters carved upon the stones of even the most recent of 
the ruins. The presence of both characters, however, is 



KHMER CIVILISATION 157 

a puzzle, for it would seem to imply the existence of two dis- 
tinct epochs — the first during which the ancient character 
was used, and the second when the more modern form of 
writing was in vogue — and this would relegate even Ang- 
kor Wat to a period of very remote antiquity. In these 
circumstances, the finding of a satisfactory explanation 
which might account for the failure of the author of the 
Chinese manuscript to mention the great temple, becomes 
even more difficult, and many have concluded that the 
town therein described must have been some other city of 
Kambodia and not Angkor Thom at all. 

Although M. De Lagree himself was of this latter 
opinion, a careful examination of the account of the 
Chinese ambassador yields evidence which seems to me to 
be conclusive that Angkor Thom and no other place was 
referred to by him. The details concerning the shape of 
the town, its size, and the number and position of its gates ; 
the minute description of the Causeway of the Giants 
leading to it, and of a temple without the walls correspond- 
ing to Bakheng ; the legend which he relates of the 
nine-headed serpent, the " patron spirit," as it were, of 
the kings of Kambodia, whose effigy in stone is still in 
existence ; — these and many other things all apply per- 
fectly to Angkor, and are inapplicable to any other 
known ruins in Indo-China. The reason why Angkor 
Wat escaped mention is, and must remain a mystery, but 
this omission is at the best only negative evidence of its 
non-existence at that period, and all the indications 
would seem to prove it clearly to have belonged to a 
much earlier age than the thirteenth century. 



158 FURTHER INDIA 

I am inclined, therefore, to conclude that the capital of 
Chin-La described by the Chinese diplomat is indeed no 
other than Angkor Thom, but I conceive that the em- 
pire to which it belonged, though still flourishing, was 
even then in its decadance. The Chinese author does not 
speak of any great works having been in course of con- 
struction at the time of his visit, and the fact that even 
some of the older buildings show signs of never having 
been quite finished would seem to indicate that the 
artistic zeal and skill, which in the past had accomplished 
so much, had declined before ever Angkor Thom was 
deserted by its inhabitants. Furthermore, at a very early 
period of our era, Kambodia, as we learn from the 
Chinese Annals, had become subservient to China, and 
this alone would suffice to show that the Khmer empire 
was even then a decaying power. Buildings of such a 
character as those of Angkor must have been the work 
of dynasties who ruled supreme over a populous king- 
dom, who could command an almost infinite amount of 
human labour, and who were so free from menace from 
without that they could devote all the energy of their sub- 
jects to the construction of gigantic public works instead of 
to fruitless war. No such edifices ever yet were conceived 
or executed by kings who occupied the position of mere 
vassals, or who had aught to fear from imminent in- 
vasion. 

If then by the end of the thirteenth century Angkor 
was still great, still inhabited, but none the less was tot- 
tering to its fall, all we have to suppose is that events 



KHMER CIVILISATION 159 

occurred which hastened the catastrophe and accelerated 
the process of decay, and here we seem to find a hint in 
the Chinese manuscript of what may have been the na- 
ture of the calamity which precipitated the abandonment 
of the royal city. The ambassador, as already stated, 
makes mention of lakes in the neighbourhood of Angkor 
which are no longer to be located in the directions indi- 
cated by him, while another lake appears to have come 
into being since his time. A change such as this wrought 
in the natural configuration of the surrounding country 
could only be the result of seismic convulsions, and such 
an explanation would also account for the battered con- 
dition of many of the buildings and the very general di- 
lapidation of the roofs. It is noticeable, too, that no 
human remains are found in large numbers in the houses 
of Angkor Thom, as would be the case in all probability if 
the town had been abandoned on account of plague or 
pestilence, and it would seem to be more likely that the 
evacuation was due to sudden panic. When we re- 
member the innately superstitious character of these Ori- 
ental races, it is not difficult to conceive of the conviction 
that might have been bred in them by a succession of 
slight earthquake-shocks that it was the will of the gods 
that their ancient home should be deserted, and if once 
such a belief spread among the populace of an Asiatic 
city, nothing could save it from abandonment. The faith 
of the Oriental, which, not content with believing in the 
languid European fashion, has a wonderful power of real- 
ising as an actual fact the thing proposed for its belief, 
would in such an event prove strong enough to overcome 



i6o FURTHER INDIA 

all attachment to home, all love of things ancient and 
sacred, all personal and private interests, all respect for 
the value of property. The will of the gods, once plainly- 
indicated, once grasped, would be obeyed no matter what 
the sacrifice demanded by obedience, and something of 
this kind, I conceive, must be held to account for the 
abandonment of the noble edifices of Angkor to the 
encroaching jungle and to the wild creatures of the 
forest. 

Picture then a population driven suddenly forth into the 
wilderness, as were the Children of Israel, but unlike them 
with no Moses for their leader and lawgiver. As I have 
already indicated, it is probable that before the exodus 
occurred the numbers of the race had diminished, while its 
arts had languished or had been lost, as so many wonderful 
.arts have been lost completely in Asiatic lands. The kings 
would have lacked the men, the means and the resources 
wherewith to create new cities to rival their deserted cap- 
ital. Stonework, such as had been fashioned in ancient 
times by thousands of toihng men, would be altogether 
beyond their reach, and the limitless jungle spreading 
around them would yield timber and palm-leaves for 
roofing at the cost of little labour. It would naturally 
follow that the exiles would easily content themselves 
with the more modest accommodation at their immediate 
disposal, and that the sons of the men who had lived in 
royal Angkor would speedily resign themselves to the 
thatched huts of the modern Kambodians. The fact that 
they were already a rapidly decaying people would make 
the decline more fatally easy. They would have in them 



KHMER CIVILISATION 161 

no power of rebound, and the blow which would have 
been dealt to their national importance and prosperity by 
the abandonment of their cities would be one from which 
they had not enough of energy to recover. 

For the rest the legend of their former greatness would 
very soon pass into a mere myth. The Malay hero, 
Hang Tuah, who as chief of the fleets of Malacca fought 
against the Portuguese, both at the time of the taking of 
that city and for many years after it had passed into the 
keeping of the white men, is to-day, and has been for the 
past two hundred years, a figure as fabulous in the popu- 
lar imagination as Hercules or Agamemnon. Around 
him has been woven a maze of marvellous story and 
miraculous tradition ; it is, as Crawfurd has remarked, 
much as though our own Sir Walter Raleigh had become 
by the eighteenth century a solar-myth. Things such as 
this are constantly happening in the East, where the 
power of faith is stupendous, where the imagination is 
strong, where people have a natural leaning towards the 
marvellous, and where the unlettered populace know 
nothing of written history. To me it seems in no wise 
strange that in a matter of something over two centuries 
the Kambodians should beheve that Angkor was fash- 
ioned from potters' clay by the god Prea En, or should give 
credit to any other fabulous legend concerning the origin 
of buildings which in their present degenerate state these 
people are unable even to conceive the possibility of de- 
signing or executing. 

As regards the encroachment of the forest, that, I think, 
need occasion no surprise. I have myself seen a ploughed 



i62 FURTHER INDIA 

field in tropical Asia covered in the space of fifteen 
months with dense undergrowth twelve feet in height, 
through which a man could pass only with the greatest 
difficulty, with the aid of a stout wood-knife. If Ang- 
kor after its desertion was protected by the tradition, 
already quoted above from the work of Ribadeneyra, that 
the natives could not live in it, two centuries would be 
ample time for the forest to take back its own, and this 
tradition would seem to support the explanation of 
the abandonment of the city which I have here ventured 
to put forward. 

The origin of the Khmers is wrapped in obscurity, 
but the features of the men represented in the ancient 
monuments, as may be seen from the statue of the Lep- 
rous King, here reproduced from the work of M. Mou- 
hot, are distinctively Hindu. The type is found to this 
day prevalent among Kambodians of pure descent, and it 
presents a very marked contrast to the broad-faced, flat- 
featured Mongolian races of China and Siam. Kambodia 
in our time, however, is not peopled by a single nation, 
but rather by a very heterogeneous population. The 
mountains are inhabited for the most part by aboriginal 
tribes of a very low standard of civilisation, who from 
time immemorial have been pillaged and enslaved by 
their more advanced neighbours. The trading and ener- 
getic portion of the community is composed almost ex- 
clusively of Chinese — mostly natives of Fok-Kien, for 
Kambodia still communicates with China by sea, and very 
rarely by the overland route. Here and there there are 
colonies of Malays scattered about the country, who came 



KHMER CIVILISATION 163 

there no one precisely knows how, and the Kambodians 
themselves have in most cases intermarried with strangers 
and so have lost their ancient purity of blood. In Bat- 
ambang and Siamreap the Siamese have also established 
a few colonies. 

Of the heyday of the Khmer empire we have no record 
whatsoever, but we may safely conclude that it dates from 
a period prior to the reduction of Kambodia by China. 
This is said to have taken place under the Chinese Em- 
peror Yao, who was also the first of his race to cause the 
Yang-tze valley to be colonised by Chinese. The 
practical dominion of China in Kambodia ended with the 
Thang Dynasty, which perished during the latter half of the 
tenth century of our era. One building at Angkor is be- 
lieved to have been constructed in the second century, an 
inscription which has been deciphered seeming to war- 
rant this conclusion, and it is possible that some of the 
edifices may be even older than this. A legend is still 
extant of a king of Kambodia who not only built Angkor, 
but who also subjugated many of the islands of the Archi- 
pelago and monopolised for a space the trade between 
China and the West. To him also are attributed the 
great roads, traces of which are still to be found in parts 
of the country. No reliance is to be placed upon such 
traditions as these, but Angkor itself and the numerous 
other ruins are triumphant evidence of what the might of 
the Khmer empire must once have been. That it derived 
its inspiration direct from India cannot be doubted — the 
character of the carving, the features of the statues, the 
practice by the Khmers of the cult of Buddha, all indi- 



i64 FURTHER INDIA 

cate this, while the appearance of the Kambodians of our 
own time seems to confirm the beUef that the ancestors 
of these people came originally from the peninsula of 
Hindustan. We know that Hindu influence extended in 
very early times as far south as Lombok and Bali, and it 
is highly probable that Kambodia may also have been 
peopled from India by sea. The enormous encroach- 
ments of the land upon the ocean, caused by the immense 
amount of the deposits washed down by the Mekong, | 
have added largely to the flat coast-lands of the country 
during historical, as opposed to geological times, and a 
thousand years ago Angkor was certainly much less dis- 
tant from the sea than it is to-day. None the less, since 
other seaward States in its vicinity escaped the Indian in- 
vasion, it is at least possible that the Khmers may have 
made their way into Indo-China overland, as is contended 
by some French writers, though the opinion is one which 
it is not easy to accept. 

To sum up, all that we can really ascertain at the pres- 
ent time concerning the Khmer civilisation is that it 
flourished and came to full fruition before its subjugation 
to China ; that the Chinese dominion ended before the 
conclusion of the tenth century of our era, though it had 
a nominal and more or less formal existence for more 
than three centuries later ; that Angkor and the other 
towns of Kambodia were occupied by the natives of the 
country well into the fourteenth century, although by that 
time the civilisation of the Khmers had decayed, their arts 
would appear to have declined, and the numbers of their 
subjects to have dwindled. It further seems probable that 



KHMER CIVILISATION 165 

some time in the fourteenth century the ancient buildings 
were deserted owing, it may be surmised, to a supersti- 
tious behef that it was no longer the will of the gods that 
they should be occupied — a superstition which exists to 
the present day, and which may have originated in, or 
have impressed itself upon, the public mind by reason of 
one or more earthquake-shocks. We have, it must be 
confessed, only a slender base upon which to build our 
theories, but the evidence of the Chinese ambassador, so 
often quoted in these pages, is something tangible and 
concrete which cannot easily be thrust aside. For the 
rest, I trust that I have succeeded in showing that the de- 
sertion of Angkor at a period subsequent to his visit is at 
any rate a possibility, and that the condition of the ruins 
at the present time, and the maze of myth and legend in 
which the imagination of the native population has en- 
tangled them, need excite little surprise when we remem- 
ber the Titanic nature of the buildings on the one side, 
and the appeal which they would inevitably make to a 
marvel-loving, superstitious, and unlettered people. When 
all has been said, however, the problem of the Khmer 
civilisation remains unsolved, for of the story of the great 
empire which existed before ever China effected conquests 
in Kambodia we know nothing. Judged by the gigantic 
remains which they have bequeathed to us, — the expres- 
sion at once of a tremendous energy and of a passion- 
ate love of art — the Khmers must have been a wonderful 
people, and such a people cannot have failed to have a 
marvellous and inspiring history. What that story was 
we know not, and perhaps shall never know, but we must 



i66 FURTHER INDIA 

all subscribe to Francis Garnier's tribute to the men of 
this vanished race. 

'^Jamais nulle part peut-etre une masse plus imposante 
de pierres n'a He disposee avec plus d'art et de science. 
Si Von admire les pyrammides comme une oeuvre gigan- 
tesque de la force et de la patience humaines^ a une force 
et une patience egales ilfaut ajouter ici le genie ! " 



CHAPTER VIII 

FROM PNOM PENH TO UBON 

IT was only on July 7, 1 866, that the de Lagree-Garnier 
expedition at last began its ascent of the Mekong 
River from Pnom Penh. A short visit was paid to 
the pagoda of Pnom-Brashe, an ancient Khmer ruin situ- 
ated opposite to the Sutin islands. This is a magnificent 
temple, in general appearance not unlike a Gothic 
cathedral, and according to an inscription found in it, a 
translation of which was furnished to the explorers by a 
Buddhist monk, it dates from the second century of our 
era. De Lagree, who found it impossible to get over the 
difficulty presented by the omission from the manuscript 
of the Chinese ambassador of all mention of Angkor Wat, 
thought that the town described in that work was to be 
looked for in the neighbourhood of Pnom-Brashe, but 
there is little to be advanced in favour of this view, since 
the account of the capital of Kambodia as it was in the 
thirteenth century corresponds in almost every detail with 
Angkor Thom, and is not applicable in an equal degree 
to any other of the great Khmer remains. 

On July 9th, Kratieh, on the left bank just below the 
Sombor rapids, was reached, and here the two shallow- 
draft gunboats, in which the expedition had so far been 
conveyed, were abandoned. Up to this time, no steamers 

167 



i68 FURTHER INDIA 

had ascended to a point so far from the coast, and the 
difficulties in the way of navigation which had been en- 
countered since leaving Pnom Penh had been great. 
The gear and supplies of the explorers were therefore 
transferred to native boats — long crafts fashioned from 
tree-trunks, warped open by fire, their carrying capacity 
being increased by plank sides built up from the soHd 
keels. Each boat was furnished with a bamboo deck, 
supporting a low, thatched cabin amidships, and was 
propelled by a number of punters armed with long, iron- 
shod poles. 

Heavy rains had already begun to fall in the interior, 
and the river was some sixteen feet above its normal 
level. On July i6th the first formidable rapids of the 
Sombor flight were reached, and thus early in his journey 
Garnier was forced to resign one of his most cherished 
dreams. On each bank of the great river rose marvel- 
lous tangles of untouched forest — giant trees with but- 
tress-roots, treading on one another's toes, standing knee- 
deep in striving underwood, their branches interlocked, 
and bound each to each by vine and creeper, shaggy with 
ferns and mosses, draped with hanging parasitic growths, 
and set here and there with the delicate stars of orchids. 
Between these sheer cliffs of vegetation the great river 
rolled, sullen and persistent, its brown waters sweeping 
downward with irresistible force their freight of wallowing 
tree-trunks, rushing with a fierce hissing sound through 
the brushwood on either bank, foaming and fighting 
around the islaBds which here bespatter the surface of 
the stream, and squabbling noisily with the rough-hewn 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 169 

sandstone outcrops which form at this point a broken bar 
at right-angles to the current. Looking at this wild 
scene, Francis Garnier, the lover of beauty and of savage 
nature, felt that his eye was filled with seeing, — filled with 
visions of sheer delight ; but Francis Garnier the practical 
statesman, the utilitarian, the naval officer, took small 
comfort from the conclusions which were now forced 
upon his recognition. No highway of trade was to be 
beaten out of this whirling wilderness of troubled waters. 
Within ten days from his departure from Pnom Penh the 
hopes which he had cherished of discovering in the 
Mekong a practicable route, by means of which the trade 
of Yun-nan might be diverted to Indo-China, had been 
brought to nought. * 

Reluctantly and not without a struggle did he admit 
this truth. The river ran in flood three and a quarter 
miles in width, and he could not but hope against hope 
that in all that great expanse some possible channel for a 
steamboat might be found. Taking a small canoe with 
two or three native boatmen, he put out into the stream 
towards the right bank, but before he was well within 
sight of the great rapid of Preatapang his crew struck 
work. They refused flatly to carry him beyond an island 
in mid-stream, whence he could see nothing to his pur- 
pose. He coaxed, cajoled, bribed, entreated and finally 
had resort to threats, but all in vain. He had come into 
collision with the stolid, unshakable resolution of the 
Oriental whose mind is made up, and storming with rage 
he was obliged to return a defeated man to his jeering 
companions. 



lyo FURTHER INDIA 

Still hugging the left bank of the river, and travelling 
for the most part through the submerged forest, where 
alone the punters could find bottom with their poles, the 
party crept painfully up-stream, reaching the mouth of 
the Se-Kong on the 2ist, and the town of Stung- 
Treng, in Siamese territory, on the same day. 

From Stung-Treng, Garnier, who felt that he still bore 
a grudge to the rapids of Sombor, set off down river to 
explore the right bank of the Mekong. After many risks 
in the rapids and difficulties with his boatmen, Sombor 
was reached, and finding there a boat containing belated 
supplies for the expedition, Garnier got on board her, and 
after five laborious days spent in punting up-stream, re- 
joined his comrades at Stung-Treng. 

Meanwhile de Lagree had utilised his leisure in explor- 
ing the Se-Kong, which falls into the Mekong on its left 
bank a little below Stung-Treng. The neighbourhood of 
the latter place had also been examined, and some cu- 
rious stone towers, yet other relics of the Khmer civilisa- 
tion, had been discovered. Concerning these Gerard van 
Wusthof, the leader of the Dutch expedition to Vien 
Chan in the seventeenth century, of which more will be 
said in a later chapter, has the following passage : 

"On August 17th, we passed the night at Baetzong 
(Stung-Treng) near a stone church, ruined through age, 
where the Louwen (Laos folk) perform ceremonies and 
sacrifices. Candles were burning in this church on the 
altars of two idols. About fifty years ago the Kings of 
Kambodia resided in this place, but forced to retreat be- 
fore the incessant attacks of the Louwen, they left this 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 171 

church to itself in the solitude of a grove, and descended 
to the spot where they now reside." 

Similarly in van Wusthof 's time Kambodians occupied 
villages in the upper reaches of the Se-Kong, whereas 
long since the descendants of the once dominant race have 
retreated to the country lying below the Sombor Falls. 
Stung-Treng itself, an insignificant place of less than 
1,000 inhabitants, is peopled by Laotines, though here as 
elsewhere in Indo-China, what little trade there is remains 
almost entirely in the hands of the ubiquitous Chinese. 

" Sans r intervention de V element chinoisl' writes 
Garnier, " ces contrees eloignees mourraient bientot a toute 
relation exterieurel' and indeed the same may be said 
with truth of every portion of Indo-China and Malaya. 
The Chinaman possesses in a remarkable degree those 
very qualities of diligence, energy, business capacity, per- 
severance and thrift which the men of these regions most 
singularly lack, and any plan which has for its object the 
placing of the prosperity of the peninsula on a sound 
economical basis, and the endowing of them with the 
blessings of material prosperity, must include a scheme 
for the free immigration of the Chinese, under which 
they shall be granted full rights of citizenship. 

The valley of the Se-Kong is encompassed by moun- 
tains, and the country between it and the main range bor- 
dering Cochin-China is inhabited by wild tribes. For the 
rest the population is Laotine, and the standard of civili- 
sation does not compare favourably with that of the 
Kambodians, all trade, for instance, being still conducted 
on a system of barter. 



172 FURTHER INDIA 

De Lagree explored the Se-Kong on this occasion as 
far as Sien-Pang, and he later completed the work using 
Bassak as his pied-a-terre. To the latter place he now 
decided to push on, his object being to establish a base 
from which to conduct further explorations, and in which 
he might fix his headquarters during the coming rainy- 
season. His design was somewhat delayed by the severe 
illness — a malignant form of fever — by which both Gar- 
nier and Thorel were prostrated, but though the former 
was still delirious a start was presently made from Stung- 
Treng, and by the time the rapids of Khon were reached 
on August 17th, the second-in-command was sufficiently 
recovered to be able to take his usual eager interest in 
all that was going on around him. 

Above Stung-Treng the river is so bespattered with 
islands that it was rarely possible to catch a glimpse of 
both banks at the same time, but just below the Khon 
Falls the stream opens out into a great basin, some three 
and a-half miles across. The northern end of this is oc- 
cupied by a compact group of islands, divided each from 
each by narrow channels through which the river tears 
its way, its waters being precipitated into the basin be- 
low. In many of these channels all obstacles have been 
worn away, and here the waters glide downward in long, 
unbroken waves, the force of which is terrific. In the 
channels of Salaphe and Papheng, the two principal falls, 
however, the stream runs in absolute cascades, the body 
of water being more than 1,000 yards across, and plung- 
ing vertically from a height of fifty feet. From bank to 
bank the broken line of rapids, rushing through the group 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 173 

of islets, measures between seven and eight miles in width, 
while immediately above, the river is twelve miles across, 
though a little further up it narrows down again to its 
original breadth of about three and a-half miles. 

" Everything in this gigantic country," wrote Garnier, 
" breathes an unheard of force and clothes itself in over- 
whelming proportions." The land is thickly populated 
and highly cultivated. The principal villages are Sit- 
andong and Khong, and with the Governor of the lat- 
ter place the expedition speedily established very friendly 
relations. For the rest the scanty trade consisted in the 
exportation of jungle produce obtained from the hill- 
tribes and brought to the river by means of a track lead- 
ing inland from its left bank. 

The province of Tuli-Repu, on the right bank of the 
Mekong, was formerly a part of Kambodia, but the chief 
in charge of it having rebelled and obtained the support 
of Siam, it passed, without any formalities of cession, un- 
der the dominion of Bangkok, as have so many other 
fragments of the ancient Khmer empire. After that 
event it became almost a desert, the mountainous parts 
being infested by lawless bands who lived chiefly by pil- 
lage, and Garnier saw in its annexation by France its only 
chance of salvation. This is an opinion which has since 
found much favour with French colonial statesmen, but 
even under the administration of France this part of the 
Mekong valley seems hardly likely to produce a trade of 
any remarkable proportions. 

Using Khong as his base, de Lagree ascended and ex- 
plored the Repu or Se-Lompu River, and on the banks 



174 FURTHER INDIA 

of the Mekong, to the south of the island, he discovered 
a few vestiges of ancient Khmer buildings. On Septem- 
ber 6th Khong was left and a start made for Bassak. The 
river, for the first time since Sombor, was found to flow 
in a single channel, its width being between i ,400 and 
1 ,800 yards from bank to bank. For the first time, too, 
high mountains became visible to the north, and at the 
end of the fifth day the explorers found themselves be- 
ginning to describe a great curve, formed by the Mekong 
as it skirts the foot of a high range of hills. On Septem- 
ber nth Bassak was reached, the whole of the country 
traversed from Khong to that place being densely popu- 
lated. 

Bassak is situated on the right bank of the Mekong, 
which here measures over a mile and a quarter in width ; 
it lies opposite to the big island of Don-Deng, and moun- 
tains rise up at the rear of the town. A little to the north 
there is a plain on the right bank, and beyond this a chain 
of mountains, skirted by the river, runs to the peak called 
Phu Molong. To the west is a peak called Phu Bassak, 
and east-northeast are seen the distant volcanic moun- 
tains, the most southerly of which was subsequently 
named Mount de Lagree by Francis Gamier when death 
had claimed his chief. The expedition had cause for 
congratulation in the selection of Bassak as its head- 
quarters, for the climate was found to be delightful ; the 
thermometer registered between 57° and 60° F. in the 
early mornings of January, the place being, in fact, far 
cooler than any district of Kambodia, and even than 
many spots higher up the river. 




Ravine near the Mekong 

From Garnier's "Voyage en Indo-Chine' 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 175 

The explorers were now well into the Laos country, 
and they were much struck by the intelligence and 
gentleness of the natives. Garnier fancied that he dis- 
cerned in them some traces of that vitality and mental 
energy which are the germs of progress, and for a period 
he cheated himself into the belief that they might have a 
future before them such as is surely denied to the spent 
peoples of Kambodia. The people of Laos he says, 
*' peuvent renaitre a V activite et a la richesse, au milieu 
des contrees admirables quils habitent, sous Vinfluence 
civilisatrice de la France^' an opinion which may or 
may not be true) but which has certainly not yet been 
justified in the smallest degree. It is to be feared that 
Garnier, deluded by his love of Indo-China and by his very 
natural enthusiasm for the future of countries with which 
he had become so closely identified, allowed himself to be 
blinded to some obvious facts. Compared to the Kam- 
bodians the Laotines were doubtless less utterly past hope, 
but the people of southeastern Asia who are most vital, 
most ahve to-day are, without question, the Siamese, whose 
energy has been sufficient to achieve the reduction of so 
many of their neighbours ; yet no one who has studied 
modern Siam with any care, and has not had his vision 
confused by personal predilections and prejudices, can 
cherish many illusions concerning the future that awaits 
its people. As for the Laotines, such achievement as was 
possible to their limitations belongs to the days of Vien 
Chan's prosperity ; compared with that of Siam or Burma, 
leaving entirely on one side the great empire of the 
Khmers, it is a paltry thing, and as regards their future. 



176 FURTHER INDIA 

the very tolerance of alien creeds, which Garnier found so 
worthy of praise, sets a seal upon their fate. This is a 
virtue which, in the East, never yet sprang from intel- 
lectual energy. It is in the Oriental a sure sign of the 
apathy of decay. Among the Kambodians, who have a 
proud past behind them, fanaticism is the last vestige of 
their ancient self-esteem : it is an expression of their 
hatred, their resentment of the foreign aggression which 
they fear, but are powerless to resist. 

From September nth to Christmas Day Bassak con- 
tinued to be the headquarters of the expedition. The camp 
was formed in deluges of rain, and for many days the down- 
pour continued unabated, but when fine weather re- 
turned a number of interesting explorations were made 
from this new base. Garnier, Delaporte and Thorel be- 
gan by visiting the plateau situated to the north of 
Bassak, but did not succeed in reaching the summit. 
Next Garnier was sent by de Lagree to explore the 
lower reaches of the Se-Dom, a river which falls into the 
Mekong on its left bank some miles above Bassak. Up 
this stream he proceeded to a point where it bifurcates, 
and thence up the western branch to the great falls which 
"are some fifty feet in height. Thence he returned down- 
stream, and set off with elephants in search of some 
silver mines, the existence of which had been rumoured by 
Mouhot. At the end of a laborious day's journey he 
found himself in the village of one of the wild tribes, and 
was informed by his guides that there were no mines to 
be seen, and that they had thought from the first that he 
desired to visit the habitations of the " savages." Neither 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 177 

he nor his interpreters had any great knowledge of the 
Laotine dialect ; " varied gestures and ingenious draw- 
ings," he tells us, " were called to the aid of our igno- 
rance of words, and it was rarely that by this process we 
did not obtain, at the end of half an hour of effort, 
seven or eight entirely contradictory answers." In these 
circumstances there was room and to spare for misunder- 
standings, but Gamier believed, and perhaps justly, that 
the locality of silver mines was being purposely con- 
cealed from him. He was unable to prove the truth of 
his suspicions, however, and eventually had to return to 
Bassak without having obtained any information concern- 
ing the object of his search. 

He reached headquarters on October 9th, and found 
that the Mekong had fallen more than sixteen feet during 
his week of absence. The end of the rainy season had 
come; on every hand preparations were being made 
for planting the land which had been enriched by the 
overflow of the river, and during the last days of the 
month, the travellers witnessed the great feast of Hena 
Song, which is a kind of public thanksgiving annually 
made for the harvest that is to be. Immediately after the 
feast Garnier set off down the Mekong, his object being to 
get word of the mail-bags of the expedition which were 
long overdue. Leaving Bassak on November 4th, Gar- 
nier reached Stung-Treng four days later, and there 
learned the disquieting news that the insurrection which 
had broken out in Kambodia under Pu Kombo had 
assumed serious proportions, and that the valley of the 
Mekong to the south of Stung-Treng was in the hands of 



178 FURTHER INDIA 

the rebels. Gamier therefore sent his interpreter, Alexis, 
down river with letters for the French authorities, 
and himself returned up-stream on November 12th, 
reaching Bassak on November 23d, after spending much 
time in the detailed exploration and survey of the 
Mekong and its banks. 

Meanwhile de Lagree had led an expedition up the Se- 
Dom, hauling his boats up the rapids already discovered 
by Garnier, and ascending the river until the village of 
Smia, on the right bank, was reached. From this point 
his party trudged up the left bank of the Se-Dom to the 
falls of Keng Noi, and then struck across open grassy 
plains, broken by occasional rice-fields and patches of 
forest, to Saravan, where the Se-Dom was once more met 
with. From this village they continued the ascent of the 
stream, walking up its banks and crossing and recrossing 
it at frequent intervals, for four days, when they finally 
quitted it and struck across the dividing ridges in the di- 
rection of the head waters of the Se-Kong. 

The Se-Kong, when first encountered, was already 
more than 100 yards in width, but the travellers had to 
tramp down its banks for two days before the first in- 
habited villages were met with. At Ban Kumkang boats 
were obtained, and in these the foot-weary men were car- 
ried to Attopeu, the village which is the chief trade-centre 
of the valley and is situated in the heart of a district in- 
habited thickly by wild tribes. Ethnologically these tribes- 
men are distinct from the Laotines, their noses being straight 
and fine, their foreheads more developed. These tribesmen 
are known in Laos by the generic name of Khas, are 




o 
a; 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 179 

called Moi in Annam, and Pen-nong in Kambodia, and 
though it is probable that they belong to different 
branches of a single race, they are known among them- 
selves by more than a dozen distinctive names. They 
furnish one of the many riddles propounded by south- 
eastern Asia to the ethnologist. The Negrito, who is 
represented by the Semang and Pangan tribes of the 
Malay Peninsula, is not found in Indo-China, but on the 
other hand the hillmen of a brown race, corresponding 
to the Sakai of Malaya, count many thousands of indi- 
viduals in Kambodia, Annam, Laos and the Shan States. 
In their character these unhappy folk to the south of 
Luang Prabang, who from time immemorial have been 
the prey of their more civilised and therefore stronger 
neighbours, appear to be peaceable, gentle and timorous. 
Some of the more remote tribes, who dwell in the fast- 
nesses of the mountains and hold communication only spar- 
ingly with even the tamer aborigines, are reputed to be 
ferocious, but the same legend is current wherever such 
tribes exist, and its origin may perhaps be traced to a de- 
sire on the part of the slave-traders to enhance the value 
of their wares. That the aborigines look upon all other 
human beings as their enemies is likely enough, since 
time out of mind their children have been abducted and 
sold into slavery. That they will fight on occasion to pre- 
vent this is also possible, but none of these down-trodden 
races have any love of fighting for its own sake, and they 
always prefer flight to battle, after the manner of all other 
denizens of the jungle. Garnier, in writing of some of these 
poor creatures, mentions the horror with which he noted 



i8o FURTHER INDIA 

the miserable eyes of their women following him when he 
chanced to look admiringly at some of the children. The 
fear was upon them lest he should seize the Httle ones, in 
which case the bereaved parents would have had no 
choice but to submit, and the women's eyes were elo- 
quent of pitiful memories of the lot to which the wild 
tribes-folk are born. 

Leaving Attopeu, de Lagree descended the course of 
the Se-Kong as far as Tapak, whence he journeyed over- 
land to Bassak. Attopeu itself had been visited by van 
Wusthof in the seventeenth century, but the whole of the 
Se-Dom and the head waters of the Se-Kong were now 
explored by Europeans for the first time, as also was the 
country between Tapak and Bassak. Careful surveys 
had been made and the course of two large rivers, to- 
gether with much of the country lying between them, 
had been added to the map, an important piece of work 
to have been accomplished in the space of two and 
thirty days. 

The officers left behind at Bassak, and Gamier himself 
after he had rejoined them, had been busy exploring the 
ruins of Wat Phu, a pagoda perched upon a hill, which 
presents most perfect and finished examples of Khmer 
art. It is noteworthy that parts of this building are 
incomplete, and that some of the more recent carving is 
of inferior workmanship and obviously belongs to a 
period after the decHne of the Khmer people had begun. 

During their stay at Bassak, the explorers had taken 
careful note of the rise and fall of the river. Its flow on 
December 5th, when its waters had subsided to their or- 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 181 

dinary level, was estimated by Garnier at 9,000 cubic 
metres per second, whereas in flood time, on September 
20th, the volume was increased to 50,000 cubic metres 
per second, although both the Se-Kong and the Tonli- 
Repu fall into the Mekong below this point. The esti- 
mate for the river at Pnom Penh, in seasons when the 
river is full, is between 60,000 and 70,000 cubic metres, 
while Garnier's estimate for the Mekong at Bassak at dead 
low water was only from 2,000 to 3,000. On the other 
hand the Irawadi, at the head of the delta, is estimated at 
2,130 cubic metres per second, while the waters of the 
Ganges at a similar point, and at high water, is estimated 
at no less than 167,000 cubic metres. With this the Me- 
kong can, of course, make no comparison, yet the rise of 
the river from low to flood level between Kratieh and 
Pnom Penh is at least forty feet in the course of the year, 
a fact which accounts for the constant changes wrought 
in its bed, and for the immense inundations which serve 
to enrich and fertilise so large an area of its valley. 

As regards the navigability of the river, Garnier arrived 
at the conclusion that it was feasible for shallow-draught 
steamers as far as the Sombor rapids, which are at a dis- 
tance of nearly 400 miles from its mouth ; that above this 
point big poling-boats could be used for its ascent, and 
large bamboo rafts for its descent ; and that below Bassak 
the Khon rapids presented the only really serious ob- 
stacle to navigation. Here, however, even if a safe chan- 
nel could be found, the force of the current was such that 
no steamer could possibly, he thought, make headway 
against it. 



i82 FURTHER INDIA 

While the expedition was still at Bassak, Alexis, the 
native interpreter, returned, having failed to get through 
to Pnom Penh, and after much discussion it was deter- 
mined to send him overland to the capital of Kambodia, 
via Angkor, while the explorers pushed on to Ubon, on 
the banks of the Se-Mun, a right-bank tributary of the 
Mekong. Accordingly, on December 25th, the camp at 
Bassak was broken up, the explorers taking leave of the 
King and the natives, who had shown them much cour- 
tesy and kindness, and proceeding on their journey up- 
stream. The expedition passed through the defile by 
means of which the Mekong flows round the foot of 
Phu Molong on December 26th, skirted the big isolated 
mountain of Phu Fadang, where the stream, imprisoned 
between smooth, rocky walls, measures barely 200 yards 
across, and entered the Se-Mun on January 3rd. On 
the same day the village of Pi-Mun, was reached, and 
here the gear of the expedition had to be transshipped 
into boats sent for the purpose from Ubon. Above 
this point the Se-Mun runs down a succession of long, 
straight reaches which have the air of having been hewn 
out by the labour of man, and on each side a great grassy 
plain spreads away to the horizon. 

Ubon was reached on January 7th, " r agglomeration 
la plus vivante que nous eussions encore rencontreel' as 
Gamier described it, a very large village on the left bank 
of the Se-Mun, the centre of the trade of this part of the 
Mekong valley. From this point all commerce is con- 
ducted, not by river with Kambodia and Saigon, but 
overland with Korat and Bangkok. For all practical 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 183 

purposes, Bassak may be described as the most distant 
trade-centre in the Mekong valley which traffics with the 
districts of the delta. It is, and always has been, the 
dream of the French colonial authorities to divert the 
trade of the Hinterland in such a manner that it may be 
made to flow through the possessions of France, and 
Saigon having come, through fortuitous circumstances 
rather than by design, to occupy the position of capital 
of Indo-China, it has been thought that commerce should 
be forced to pass through that town. The oppressive 
custom-dues formerly exacted by Kambodia and the 
conquest of Laos by Siam may both have contributed to 
the selection of the overland in preference to the river- 
route, but apart from political considerations, the question 
is in the main one of convenience and cheapness. The 
bulk and value of the trade involved are not great, and it 
has been found that goods can be conveyed to Korat and 
Bangkok with less trouble than to the coast of the China 
Sea. The long and tedious return-journey against the 
current is a labour that cannot be lightly faced, and it may 
be predicted with some degree of certainty that Saigon 
will never be the recipient of the bulk of the trade ex- 
ported from the interior. 

At the present time Bangkok and Korat are already 
joined by a railroad, and the French are negotiating for 
the extension of this work eastward from Korat, whence it 
would pass almost due east to Hue, crossing the Mekong 
at Kamarat, and eventually finding the sea at Turon. 
The country between Kamarat and Hue is mountainous, 
and the construction of this section would be excessively 



i84 FURTHER INDIA 

costly. Were the engineering difficulties to be overcome, 
however, it is possible that Turon might become the out- 
let for the bulk of the trade of the upper valley of the 
Mekong : on the other hand it is equally possible that 
Bangkok would maintain its old commercial supremacy, 
in which case the enormous expenditure upon the con- 
struction of the Hne would be a sacrifice made in vain. 
In any case the trade of this region would have to 
undergo an immense expansion before the proposed rail- 
way could conceivably become a paying concern. Cu- 
riously enough, however, fear of injuring Saigon, rather 
than any sounder reason, is mainly responsible for the 
opposition offered by Frenchmen to the scheme; this 
is to be regretted, because the present capital can never 
hope to claim the bulk of the inland trade. Until French 
administrators can learn to regard their colonial posses- 
sions in Indo-China as a whole, and to seek their good as 
such, without paying too close an attention to purely 
local interests, the prospects of that empire are none too 
hopeful. 

From Ubon Garnier started on January loth on a fly- 
ing visit to Pnom Penh, for the purpose of bringing back 
the missing mails. He ascended the Se-Mun for three 
days, passing through open, grassy plains from which the 
forest had long before been cleared by burning ; then, 
leaving his boats at Sam-Lan, he proceeded overland 
to Si-Saket, where for the first time for many months he 
again encountered Kambodians. Having procured four 
rough carts drawn by trotting-bullocks, he crossed some 
twenty miles of grass country and entered the forest, which 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 185 

was not too dense to admit of the use of vehicles. 
At Kukan, thirty-eight miles to the south of Si-Saket, 
he found himself once more in Kambodian country, the 
natives being all Khmers who spoke none save their own 
language, in spite of the fact that the province had been 
annexed by Siam at a period anterior to the conquest of 
Batambang and Siamreap. 

Still using his carts, and crossing the rivers by means 
of good wooden bridges constructed by the Kambodians, 
Garnier drove west-southwest to Sankea, a distance of 
some twenty-five miles, where the track bifurcates, one 
branch leading west to Korat, the other south to Ang- 
kor. Taking the former by the advice of the local 
authorities, who seem to have misled him through sheer 
inability to understand that any one could possibly be in a 
hurry, he went out of his way as far as Suren, whence he 
again turned towards the south, reaching Su-Krom on 
January 22nd. Here he was assured that the road ahead 
of him was impassable for vehicles, but declining to be 
moved by these representations, he pushed on resolutely. 
Despite the desertion in mid-forest of all his guides and 
native drivers, he presently found himself, with the little 
knot of French sailors and non-commissioned officers 
whom he was taking back to Kambodia, on the lip of a 
precipitous cliff some 600 feet in height ; he had reached 
the abrupt ending of the plateau across which he had been 
travelling ever since his departure from Ubon. A path 
down the face of the cliff was discovered, but it was of a 
nature which necessitated the bullocks being unyoked and 
the carts being taken to pieces before it could be nego- 



i86 FURTHER INDIA 

tiated. Gamier set doggedly to work to perform this 
heavy task. A merciless sun beat down upon the toiling 
white men ; the bullocks, intensely offended by the scent 
of Europeans, gave an infinity of trouble ; the heat became 
unendurable, and presently the little party was racked 
with thirst. One by one the men gave in, and threw 
themselves gasping upon the ground, but Garnier wan- 
dered far and wide over the dry river-courses in search of 
water, and at last found a deep, tepid pool. The good 
news was carried to his comrades, and soon they were 
sufficiently revived to resume their labours. By lo p. m. 
the work was at last accomplished ; the carts and bullocks, 
together with all the gear, had been conveyed to the plain 
below ; camp-fires had been lighted and a well-earned 
rest was enjoyed. It was precisely at this moment 
that the Governor of Su-Krom arrived with a large res- 
cue-party. He was mightily astonished to find that the 
difficult descent had been effected without his aid, and 
Garnier was careful to treat the matter lightly in order 
that the chief might be the more impressed by the energy 
and resource of the French explorers. 

After quitting the Ubon plateau, Garnier traversed a 
waste of sandy plain, and on January 25th reached Kon- 
kan, where he discovered the dried-up bed of an ancient 
lake, — yet another trace of the seismic convulsions which 
may, perhaps, have caused the abandonment of the 
Khmer towns. Near Suren he had already noted the ex- 
istence of ruins, and now close to Konkan he discovered a 
magnificent stone bridge standing thirty metres above the 
level of the stream, three great fragments of which still 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 187 

span the Stung-Treng river. The central span is 148 
metres long and fifteen metres broad ; the parapets are sup- 
ported by carved monkeys and by dragons with nine 
heads, similar to those found at Angkor ; the arches are 
thirty-four in number, and the whole is fashioned from 
sandstone. 

Beyond this point more ruins were found, and the vil- 
lages became numerous. The Kambodians of the dis- 
trict, although they were under the rule of Siam, struck 
Gamier as being more faithful to the ancient usages of 
their race, and more wedded to its traditions, than are 
their countrymen to the south. Given the time, he 
thought that here, perhaps, might be learned something 
concerning the lost story of the great Khmer empire ; but 
Gamier could not allow himself the leisure even to turn 
aside to examine some of the ruins of whose existence 
the natives told him, and was obliged to push on to 
Siamreap, where he arrived on January 29th. 

He here received reliable news concerning Pu Kombo's 
rebellion. At one time King Norodon had been besieged 
in Pnom Penh, but he had been rescued from this preca- 
rious position by French troops. None the less most of 
the shores of the Great Lake and of its southern arm 
were still in the hands of the insurgents. Gamier thus 
found himself separated from his countrymen to the south 
by a narrow zone of country held by the enemy. Turn- 
ing a deaf ear to the protests of the Siamese Governor of 
Siamreap, he procured a boat and a crew of Annamites, 
and slipping past the rebel post at Kompong Pluk just 
before the dawn on February 5th, found a French gun- 



i88 FURTHER INDIA 

boat at Kompong Luong, and the same evening reached 
Pnom Penh after a dangerous and toilsome journey ex- 
tending over twenty seven days. 

Pnom Penh was occupied by French troops, and the 
precious mails were found at last. Most of the private 
letters, and all the scientific instruments destined for 
the explorers, had been wantonly left behind at Saigon ; 
but the Chinese passports were forthcoming, and Garnier 
contrived to procure the loan of a barometer. Judging 
rightly that safety lay in speed, and in starting upon his 
return journey before word of his project could reach the 
rebels, he allowed himself only two days' sojourn at 
Pnom Penh, and left that post again on February 8th. 
Once more he successfully ran the gauntlet of the rebel 
war-parties, and on the sixth day reached Siamreap. 
From this point he struck out for Ubon, taking as direct 
a line as possible. Leaving Angkor Wat, he crossed a 
desert plain, passed over the Pnom Kulen range, — upon 
one of the highest peaks of which he discovered some 
new Khmer ruins, — and so entered the Pre Saa, or " Mag- 
nificent Forest," through which he had great difficulty in 
taking his bullock-carts. After traversing thirty miles of 
uninhabited country, he abandoned his carts at the first 
village, and thereafter was handed on from place to place 
by relays of porters. In some villages the men were busy 
with the harvest, and only girls were procurable for the 
transport of his baggage. Woman, as a beast of burden, 
he discovered, left much to be desired, for the damsels 
treated him and his business as an immense joke. When 
he entreated them to hasten and not to tarry by the way. 



PNOM PENH TO UBON 189 

they giggled delightedly, but took no sort of notice of his 
prayers. At each stream they cast aside their scanty 
garments and bathed themselves elaborately, while he, in 
outraged modesty, stood protesting on the banks. It 
was with a sigh of intense relief that he at last saw 
their burdens transferred to the shoulders of sober-minded 
respectable men, who were innocent alike of their foUies 
and their feminine caprices. 

Travelling in this fashion from hamlet to hamlet, Gar- 
nier crossed the Stung-Treng close to its source, and 
scaled the cliff, in which the Ubon plateau has its abrupt 
ending, at a point somewhat to the east of that at which 
he had descended it with so much labour. He discovered, 
however, that his guides had not taken him sufficiently 
far in the desired direction, and that he was even now 
only two days' march from Kukan. For this place he 
accordingly made, and thence followed his original route 
to Ubon where he arrived on February 26. The rest of 
the expedition had left for Kamarat more than a month 
earher, so Gamier hastened to overtake them, descending 
the Se-Mun to its mouth and poling up the Mekong un- 
til, on March lOth, thirty days after his departure from 
Pnom Penh, he saw the French flag flying over a hut at 
Hutien, and knew that his solitary journey was ended. 

Since parting with de Lagree at Ubon he had trav- 
ersed over a thousand miles of country, the greater part 
of which had never previously been visited by a European ; 
he had filled in a blank which had long disfigured this 
part of the map ; he had fixed the position of numerous 
landmarks, had discovered several Khmer ruins of im- 



igo FURTHER INDIA 

portance, and had twice run the gauntlet of the Kambo- 
dian rebels. Above all, he had brought back with him 
the Chinese passports which were to open the doors of 
Yun-nan to the expedition. It was a goodly list of 
achievements, all of which had been effected in the space 
of two months, and de Lagree had indeed ample reason 
to congratulate himself upon the possession of such a 
lieutenant. 



CHAPTER IX 

UBON TO LUANG PRABANG MOUHOT AND OTHER EXPLORERS 

DURING the two months spent by Francis Gar- 
nier in making the flying visit to Pnom Penh 
described in the preceding chapter, the rest of 
the expedition had continued its explorations around 
Ubon and to the north. The province of Ubon at this 
time supported a population estimated at 80,000 souls, 
and the chief object of interest was the salt-pans which 
supply the natives of the district with a large part of their 
livelihood. A patch of country some forty miles in length, 
on the plateau of Ubon, appears to cover great reservoirs 
of brine, and each dry season the salt is precipitated on 
the surface in the form of a white, powdery dust. This 
is collected by the natives, cleansed in water, and is once 
more precipitated in a purified condition in large caldrons, 
which are exposed to the rays of the sun. A single 
worker wins about fifteen pounds per diem^ and the in- 
dustry is in full swing for a period of three months. As 
soon as the dry season shows signs of breaking, the 
ground from the surface of which the salt has been 
gathered is sown with rice ; good crops are obtained, and 
the soil thus yields, as it were, two harvests annually 
to its owners. 

On January 15th, Delaporte left Ubon and descended 
the Se-Mun, for the purpose of surveying the Mekong 

191 



192 FURTHER INDIA 

from the mouth of the former river to Kamarat. The 
rainy season had not yet begun, and the exposed bed of 
the Mekong was seen to be a mass of enormous rocks and 
boulders which lay about in wonderful confusion, piled 
one upon another like a heap of gigantic pebbles, amid 
which the river made its way in numberless shrunken 
streams. In places its channel was barely 200 feet 
across ; in no part did its width exceed i ,000 yards. 
At its narrowest and deepest, soundings could not find 
bottom at 300 feet. Each narrowing of the fairway pro- 
duced rapids, the ascent of which was difficult and even 
dangerous, while here and there the current ran grandly 
between sheer cliffs of water-worn rock. The river, in 
fact, was now running through a mountainous zone, 
which it enters a little below Chieng Kang, and its course 
from that point to the mouth of the Se-Mun is beset with 
difficulties. None the less, it is freely used for the big 
rafts upon which the Laos people transport their goods 
down-stream, and it is also navigable for native craft of 
light calibre. 

De Lagree, meanwhile, and the rest of the party, had 
left Ubon on January 20th, with fifteen bullock-carts and 
fifty Laotine porters, bound upon an overland march to 
Kamarat. Four days' tramp over a flat and often sandy 
plain, covered with rice-fields and clearings, and traversed 
by an unmade cart-track, brought him to Muong Amnat, 
thirty-five miles due north of Ubon. Here the cultivation 
of silk-worms and of the coccus lacca were found to be 
the principal industries of the natives, and here too de 
Lagree paid off his carriers and engaged fresh men for 





Alexandre Henri Mouhot 



i 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 193 

the march to Kamarat. The meticulous conduct of the 
Frenchmen, who insisted upon paying for services ren- 
dered to them, occasioned considerable surprise through- 
out their journey. The chiefs openly lamented the waste 
of good brass wire upon mere peasants, and thought that 
if such things were going cheap, they themselves should 
have been selected as the recipients. The porters could 
barely comprehend a love of justice which declined to de- 
fraud the labourer of his hire, and which at the same time 
restricted his indubitable rights ; for when performing a 
like service for Siamese officials they had always been 
permitted to rob the villagers of the whole countryside, 
and this de Lagree would by no means allow. On the 
whole it may be questioned whether the justice of the 
white man impressed the natives as anything more 
admirable than an inexplicable eccentricity. The point 
is interesting because it illustrates in an amusing fashion 
the divergent views of the East and the West, and the 
frequency with which the principles of the latter fail to 
make any appeal to the understanding or admiration of 
the former. 

From Amnat the way led through wild and sparsely 
peopled country, separated from the Mekong by a belt of 
forest, to a district broken by gentle undulations, where 
the previously sandy soil, bespattered with out-crops of 
iron-stone, is replaced by rice-fields. On January 30th 
the travellers found Delaporte awaiting them at Kamarat. 
This place, the point at which the proposed railway will 
cross the Mekong, is situated on the right bank, as indeed, 
since the subjugation of Laos by Siam at the beginning 



194 FURTHER INDIA 

of last century, are all the principal villages in the valley 
above the Khon rapids. 

Using Kamarat as his base, de Lagree undertook a 
short journey of exploration into the valley of the Se 
Bang-Hien, a left bank tributary of the Mekong which 
falls into the latter river opposite to Kamarat. He was 
absent eight days, and during that period travelled on 
elephants to Lahanam, where he found the Se Bang-Hien 
measuring 900 yards across. Thence he proceeded up 
the valley to Muong San Kon, below the mouth of the 
Som Phon, and so across marshy country, to Phong ; 
then east and north to Ban Najo and Lomnu ; and so 
south to Kamarat via Ban Tang Sum and Laha Kok. 
From Ban Najo the country traversed was populous, and 
the short trip served to fill in a small blank upon the map. 
Its interest, however, was mainly ethnological, de Lagree 
making the acquaintance of three remarkable tribes, the 
Sue, the Phu Tai and the Khas Denong. These " sav- 
ages," and especially the Sue, are comparatively civilised, 
and the last named, it is worthy of note, practise a form 
of ancestor worship, while their dialect is apparently a 
variant of Kambodian. 

During this journey de Lagree also succeeded in estab- 
lishing the fact that up to 1831 Annam had exercised con- 
trol over the whole of the country situated on the left bank 
of the Mekong between the sixteenth and seventeenth 
parallels of latitude ; this region had paid tribute regularly 
to the Court of Hue. The information was of political im- 
portance in view of the position which France has since 
acquired in the Kingdom of Annam. De Lagree ascer- 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 195 

tained that up to the time mentioned trade routes to the 
Annamite capital had been in constant use, and that the 
prosperity of the district had been considerable. In 1831, 
the Siamese, fresh from their reduction of the Laos States 
on the right bank of the river, invaded the country on the 
left bank, but were defeated by the Annamites. They 
returned to the charge, however, and this time they 
transported the entire population across the Mekong, 
leaving the left bank a desert. In this devastated and 
depopulated area the Annamite armies could not operate, 
and at a later period the Siamese began quietly to colo- 
nise the abandoned territory afresh. The absence of pity, 
which distinguishes the Oriental as opposed to the Occi- 
dental, stands him in good stead when he is bent upon 
conquest. No consideration bred of sympathy with 
human suffering, — let those who endure it be never so 
innocent and helpless, let the scale upon which it is con- 
ceived be never so great, — causes him to stay his hand when 
ruthless action will bring about the result at which he 
aims. It is appalling to think of the misery which the 
removal of the entire population from one bank to the 
other must have inflicted upon its victims — agriculturists 
who lived from season to season by such harvests as they 
could garner ; but by no other means, it is probable, could 
the Siamese have possessed themselves of the country 
which they coveted, and from which they had already 
been driven when they attempted to seize it by 
force. 

Kamarat was left on February 1 3th, by boat, and the 
ascent of the Mekong, the bed of which is here strewn 



196 FURTHER INDIA 

with great sandstone outcrops and obstructed by numer- 
ous flights of rapids, was begun anew. At Keng Kabao 
the boats of the expedition had to be unloaded before 
they could be hauled up the falls, but a little above this 
point, at Ban Thasaku, the river was found running 
through an immense plain covered with forest, and as it 
widened out the difficulties which it presented to naviga- 
tion ceased for a space. 

On February 15th, Ban Nuk was reached, a big village 
below which is the handsome temple of Tong Bao, with 
a facade inlaid with porcelain ; and a week later the party 
landed at Peu Nom, a pyramidal structure which is one 
of the most famous Buddhist shrines in all the Laos 
country. The upper portion is obviously modern, but 
its base, the work of a Kambodian princess the wife of 
a King of Vien Chan, dates from early in the seventeenth 
century, and is believed to have been built upon the site 
of a far older pyramid. 

Leaving Peu Nom on February 24th, the expedition 
made its way up-stream to Lakon, opposite to which vil- 
lage some enormous limestone bluffs spring suddenly 
from the plain ; from these the natives prepare large 
quantities of quicklime, both for building purposes and as 
an ingredient of the betel-quid. Here a small Annamite 
colony was met with, and the near neighbourhood of 
Annam suggested to Gamier the possibility of opening 
communications with the sea via Hue, an idea which has 
since been furthered by the labours of other explorers. 
Huten was reached on March 6th, and thence de Lagree 
and Joubert ascended the Nam Hin Bun for two days, 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 197 

and visited some lead mines situated in the valley of the 
Ban Haten. 

De Lagree, on his return, found Garnier at Hutien with 
the precious passports in his possession, and on the mor- 
row the journey up the Mekong was resumed. At San- 
laburi, at the mouth of the Sum Kam, the boats of 
the expedition were changed, and by March i6th the 
explorers found themselves once more passing through 
forest country, though four days later Bun Kang, " a 
large and beautiful town," was reached, and the surround- 
ing district was found to be richer and more civilised than 
lower Laos. The Mekong River, which had been flow- 
ing from the west since above Lakon, was now discovered 
to be running definitely from that direction, and its wind- 
ings so enormously increased the distance from point to 
point that cart-tracks were used by the natives in prefer- 
ence to boats, though a few monster rafts continued from 
time to time to loaf down-stream. On March 23rd, a more 
thickly populated country was entered, and Nong Kun, 
opposite to the important tributary, the Se Ngum, was 
reached. This river is navigable for six days* journey 
from its junction with the Mekong, but time prevented 
its exploration by the expedition. 

At Pon Pisai, on March 24th, boats were once more 
changed, and a day and a half brought the party to 
Nong Kai, near which is situated the ruined city of Vien 
Chan, once the capital of a united Laos. The river to 
this point had frequently been difficult of navigation, but 
the rapids of Hang Hong are the only very formidable 
obstacles, necessitating a complete cessation of traffic for 



198 FURTHER INDIA 

some weeks at a time at certain seasons of the year. 
The rains had not yet come, and the heat was intense, the 
thermometer registering 92° F., even after sundown. 

Nong Kai itself, founded after the destruction of Vien 
Chan, is a very important place, the largest town which 
the travellers had seen since their departure from Pnom 
Penh nine months earlier. The Governor of Nong Kai 
treated the party with courtesy, and undertook to send one 
of the interpreters, named Seguin, overland to Bangkok, as 
de Lagree had decided to dispense with his services. At a 
later period this man was able to furnish Garnier with 
some useful information concerning the country traversed 
by him between Nong Kai and the Siamese capital. 

On April 2nd, the ruins of Vien Chan were visited. 
Though the town was not destroyed and forcibly aban- 
doned until 1828, it was already completely overgrown 
with jungle. From an architectural and archaeological 
point of view this place is not more interesting than 
Bangkok or Ayuthia, and it claims our attention solely 
on account of its historical associations and the tragedy 
of its destruction. It was formerly the capital of a 
Laotine kingdom, which, founded in the thirteenth cen- 
tury, extended from the Khon rapids to the twentieth par- 
allel of latitude, thus including Luang Prabang itself. In 
1528 revolutions drove from the throne the last member 
of the dynasty which had ruled over this great state, and 
thereafter a subdivision of its territories ensued. The 
Laos people were further weakened by protracted wars 
with the Gueos — hill-tribes whose identity is uncertain — 
and in a weak moment the aid of Siam was invoked. 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 199 

From that time the influence of Siam increased, and by 
the middle of the eighteenth century the subjugation of 
the whole of Laos was an accomplished fact. In 1767 
Ayuthia was sacked by the Burmese, and Laos, which 
had endured the yoke of Siam with little gladness, took 
the opportunity to revolt. The insurrection failed, and 
all went on as before until early in the nineteenth century. 
About 1820 the King of Vien Chan, finding that he and 
his people were being mercilessly pillaged by the Siamese 
officer accredited to his Court, and having failed to obtain 
redress from Bangkok, caused the obnoxious official to 
be assassinated. A large Siamese army was at once sent 
against Vien Chan. Its ruler. King Anu, tried to raise 
the whole of Laos against the common enemy, but 
Luang Prabang prudently declined to take any hand in 
the matter. Vien Chan was taken and destroyed ; its 
population was expelled ; large numbers of people were 
burned alive in barns, and all manner of barbarities were 
practised by the invaders with the object of impressing 
the wrath of Siam upon the memory of the vanquished. 
Anu himself sought refuge in Annam, but his rendition 
having been obtained, he was brought to Bangkok and 
imprisoned in a cage, in which he presently died a mis- 
erable death. His son, having contrived to escape, and 
having thereafter been recaptured, committed suicide by 
precipitating himself from the summit of the pagoda in 
which he was incarcerated. Some of the survivors of 
this tragedy were used to populate the new town of Nong 
Kai ; others were driven off in herds to more distant 
places ; while others again were distributed as slaves 



200 FURTHER INDIA 

among the victors. Hundreds died of hunger, or fell by 
the way on that awful march which was to lead them to 
a lifelong captivity. Vien Chan, wrecked and shattered, 
was left to the forest and to the wild things of the jungle, 
after everything portable had been looted from it. 
The dream of an independent Laos was ended for ever. 
To this day children are cowed into obedience throughout 
the Laos country by the whispered name of the Praya 
Mitop, the Siamese General who commanded this bloody 
punitive expedition, j 

The dread of being overtaken by the rains caused de 
Lagree to push on from Vien Chan with as little delay as 
possible, and twenty miles up-stream a narrow gorge suc- 
ceeded by difficult rapids was encountered. Progress was 
slow, and on April 8th the rapid of Keng Kan neces- 
sitated the abandonment of the boats, the explorers walk- 
ing up the left bank to SanghaO, limping bare-shod over 
burning rocks and through thorny jungles, and taking five 
painful hours to cover a distance of six miles. New boats 
were obtained, and at Ban Kuklao, reached on April i ith, 
other craft which had been sent to meet them were 
found. Next day the last of the rapids was passed, and 
at Chieng Kang the Mekong once more expanded as the 
explorers won free from the mountainous zone through 
which for so many miles they had been following it. 

For some time the Frenchmen had been greatly per- 
turbed by rumours of a party of English explorers, some 
forty strong, which was said to have cut in above them 
from Burma. So far the members of de Lagree's expe- 
dition had been passing, for the most part, through 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 201 

country which, though it had not been examined in de- 
tail, had already been visited by Europeans. In only a 
few places had they been able to look around them with 
that peculiar pride and triumph which belong to the 
white man who knows that for him has been reserved 
from the beginning the tremendous privilege of gazing, 
the first of all his kind, upon scenes never beheld before 
by European eyes. That joy of joys to one bitten by the 
love of wandering was to be theirs when they should win 
free at last of the places over which their fellows had 
scored a trail ; but if an English expedition of imposing 
numbers, and presumably far better equipped than them- 
selves, had slipped in ahead of them, this experience was 
like to be indefinitely postponed. They never dreamed of 
questioning the accuracy of the report : it was felt to be 
vraisemblable , to be completely in keeping with the 
ubiquitous character, the unblushing intrusiveness of the 
Englishman. They could only set their teeth and de- 
termine to die rather than to suffer themselves to be out- 
done, while they said bitter things of England and of Fate, 
and Garnier's anglophobia revived of a sudden with some- 
thing of its old passionate force. Intense therefore was 
their relief when, shortly after leaving Chieng Kang, they 
met three rafts journeying down -stream, on board one of 
which was a Dutchman, named Duyshart, a surveyor in 
the employ of the Siamese Government, who turned out 
to be the egg from which, through the incubation of the 
native imagination, this monstrous canard had been 
hatched. This man, the record of whose journey and 
surveys seems to have been engulfed in the files of one 



202 FURTHER INDIA 

of the Government Departments at Bangkok, had 
ascended the Menam to Chieng Mai, had thence struck 
across country to the Mekong, striking it at Chieng Khong, 
about 1 30 miles above Luang Prabang, and had rafted 
down the river from that point. This prolonged the dis- 
tance which the Frenchmen would have to cover before 
they could pass into utterly unexplored country, but this 
fact notwithstanding, the transformation of an English 
expedition into a single Dutchman raised their spirits and 
sent them on their way rejoicing. 

On April i6th, the boundary of the province of Luang 
Prabang was crossed, and on the morrow Pak Lai, which 
had previously been visited by Mouhot who had come 
thither from Muong Lui, was reached. This was the 
first point on the Mekong at which Mouhot's route had 
been cut by that of the expedition, and Garnier found 
that the former explorer had misplaced it by sixty-four 
geographical miles, an error which repeated itself with 
more or less persistency in all his latitudes. The correc- 
tion which Garnier was now able to make was one of 
considerable importance, and necessitated a material 
rectification of the maps compiled from Mouhot's notes. 
From Pak Lai there is a cart-track along the right bank 
of the Mekong, now little used but formerly a highway 
over which annual Chinese caravans passed from Yun-nan 
to Ken Tao, a province between Muong Lui and Pak Lai. 
To-day Chieng Mai and Muong Nan communicate with 
Yun-nan via Chieng Tong, the route partially explored 
by McLeod in 1837. 

Some distance above Pak Lai the expedition passed 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 203 

through uninhabited forest country, where the river is 
obstructed by rapids every few miles ; above this stretch 
the stream flowed for some distance between magnificent 
marble cliffs, while limestone bluffs reappeared on its 
banks. The rapid of Keng Luong necessitated the un- 
loading of the boats, and this operation had to be re- 
peated at Keng Saniok. At Ban Koksai, a Laotine 
village, the hills in the vicinity were found to be peopled 
by the wild tribes called Khmus, whose numbers and 
spirit have enabled them to occupy towards their more 
civilised neighbours a position vastly superior to that of 
most of the hill-folk of southeastern Asia. These wild 
folk are, as it were, the rats of humanity, but while the 
Khas of lower Laos and the Sakai of the Malay Penin- 
sula are the timid and defenceless water-rats, the Khmus 
may be likened to the old, grey, English house-rat, and 
have like him an excellent notion of how to stick up for 
themselves. 

On April 29th, Luang Prabang was reached, the larg- 
est town which the Frenchmen had met with since their 
departure from Cochin-China. Garnier estimated the 
population of this place at 8,000 souls ; that of the prov- 
ince at not less than 150,000. It owed its prosperity 
partly to the fall of Vien Chan, when Luang Prabang 
stood neutral, and partly to the fact that it alone among 
the States of Laos had fallen less effectually than any of 
its neighbours under the yoke of Bangkok. Founded in 
the eighteenth century, it did not come into prominence 
until after the decline of the power of Vien Chan, and its 
prudent rulers were content with a much-tempered form 



204 FURTHER INDIA 

of independence, paying tribute to China and Annam as 
well as to Siam. The result of this policy is that, after 
all the vicissitudes which have befallen its neighbours, 
Luang Prabang remained the most important trade-centre 
of the Mekong Valley above Cochin-China, and this in 
spite of the fact that it does not possess natural advan- 
tages equal to those of lower Laos. 

Although, even when continuing their ascent of the 
Mekong above Luang Prabang, the travellers were not 
yet traversing country never previously visited by white 
men, their arrival at this, the last and greatest of the 
towns of Siamese Laos, presents a convenient opportu- 
nity for taking a rapid glance at the explorations which 
had been effected in the Hinterland of Indo-China by 
Europeans prior to the coming of the French mission. 

The earliest of these was undertaken by the Dutch 
traders led by Gerard van Wusthof^ in 1 641, of which 
frequent mention has already incidentally been made. 
The account of it was originally published in Flemish, 
nor was it rendered into any other tongue until M. P. 
VcElkel translated it for Francis Garnier, who printed it 
with his own notes in the Bulletin de la Societe de Gco- 
graphie in 1871. This has caused the narrative which 
tells of the first visit paid to Laos by white men to be 
very generally overlooked, nor indeed is the relation it- 
self of any .extraordinary interest from a geographical or 
even from an historical point of view. It appears that in 
March, 1641, certain Laotine merchants visited Batavia 

1 Vide Supra, pp. 93, et seq. 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 205 

on board one of the Dutch Company's ships, and that 
their coming suggested to the Governor, Van Dieman, 
the idea of despatching a mission to their country for the 
purpose of estabhshing trade relations with its inhabit- 
ants. For this duty Gerard van Wusthof, a sub-factor, 
was selected, the party under his leadership consisting 
of four Dutchmen, a servant, and one Malay. A 
start up the Mekong was made on July 20th, 1641 ; the 
party travelled by boat, and Sambor was reached on 
August 5. Boetzong, which may be identified with 
Stung-Treng, at the mouth of the Se-Kong, was reached 
on August I7th,i and when on the 19th the party found 
itself among the maze of islands which here divide the 
river into many branches, Wusthof believed that he had 
left upon his west the mouth of a huge stream which 
took its rise in Burma. How this mistake arose it is im- 
possible to understand, but it must be remembered that 
long after Wusthof *s day the belief prevailed that the Me- 
kong took its rise close to the Bay of Bengal, while even 
later the theory was entertained that the Mekong and the 
Menam were joined together in the interior by a water- 
way was widely accepted. Earlier still it was thought that 
the Mekong had an out-flow in the Bay of Bengal itself. 
On August 25 th an island was reached, called by 
Wusthof Saxenham, which would appear to be the 
island of Sitandong, to this day an important place, 
situated above the Khon rapids. On September 25 th, 
Ocmum — obviously Pak Mun, the mouth of the Mun 
River, — was reached, the country above Khong being 

1 Vide Supra, p. 123. 



2o6 FURTHER INDIA 

wilder and less thickly populated than Gamier afterwards 
found it. On October i8th, the party spent the night 
at Lochan, which is probably to be identified with Lakon. 
" The Laos-folk," says Wusthof, " regard Lochan as a 
great town, although it is no bigger than Harderwijk. 
We walked in the streets by the light of the moon. . . . 
This town is quite the most dreadfully pagan place there 
is in the world ; " for the worthy Dutchman was horrified 
at the behaviour of his native companions, though he 
adds characteristically, " Much gold is found here at a 
cheap price." 

On the night of November 3rd, orders were received 
from the capital that the mission was to halt at a mile 
from the town of Vien Chan (Wincian, Wusthof calls it), 
and on the morning of the i6th, the party was conveyed 
on elephants to the temple without the city, to which it is 
joined by an avenue of trees ; in this temple the audience 
with the King of Vien Chan was to be given to them. 
The King treated them with kindness. Wusthof himself, 
whose term of service with the Company was near its ex- 
piration, obtained permission to depart alone on his re- 
turn journey, and after some delay he was able to set 
forth, charged with certain pacific messages from the 
King of Vien Chan to the Court of Kambodia, which he 
undertook to deliver. 

Here his individual narrative is interrupted by a de- 
scription of the Kingdom of Laos. From this it may be 
gathered that Wusthof s notions of the geography of the 
country were vague and inaccurate, and that his under- 
standing of the teachings of Buddhism was even less ex- 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 207 

act. It shows us, however, that at this period the King- 
dom whose capital was Vien Chan was one of considera- 
ble power and importance : that it reckoned itself, and 
was reckoned by its neighbours, to stand on an equal 
footing with Siam, with Kambodia and with Tongking ; 
that it was rich and prosperous ; and that it was distin- 
guished then, as now, by the religious zeal of its people 
which manifests itself in the number and the beauty of 
the temples, pagodas and pyramids scattered through the 
country, and in the immense influence exerted over them 
by the innumerable bonzes who make it their business to 
live by the gospel and upon the faithful. 

On December 14th, Wusthof's comrades, left behind at 
Vien Chan, did not receive their permission to depart until 
August I ith, nearly nine months after their first audience 
with the King, a characteristically inaccessible Oriental 
monarch of whom they do not appear to have sub- 
sequently seen anything. 

The Dutchmen reached Bassak on the 17th, Septem- 
ber, at which point their narrative ends. 

The Dutch merchants also mention that during their 
stay at Vien Chan a " Portuguese " priest named Leria 
visited the capital and tried unsuccessfully to obtain per- 
mission to preach Christianity to the pagan population. 
This man was not in truth a Portuguese, being a native 
of Piedmont. He was a Jesuit, and his full name was 
Giovanni Maria Leria. To him belongs the distinction 
of being, not only the first, but up to the latter half of 
the nineteenth century, the only Christian priest who had 
endeavoured to spread his religion through the Laos 



2o8 FURTHER INDIA 

country. He met with tremendous opposition from the 
bonzes, but in spite of this continued to reside in Laos 
for five years, and did not leave Vien Chan till Decem- 
ber, 1647. 

The next traveller, with whose journeys in Indo-China 
we need concern ourselves, is Henri Mouhot, of whom 
mention has already been made in connection with the 
Khmer ruins at Angkor.^ A native of France, brought 
up in that country, he had resided successively in Russia, 
in England and at Jersey : by profession a photographer 
in the days when photography was a new art, he had 
cultivated his taste for natural history, devoting himself 
particularly to ornithology and conchology. In 1858 he 
went out to Siam on a mission which received practical 
encouragement from the learned societies of England and 
France, his object being to explore the little known coun- 
tries of Indo-China and to examine the problems of their 
ethnology, and their flora and fauna. Making his head- 
quarters at Bangkok, he first ascended the Menam to 
Ayuthia, the ancient capital of Saam, and paid a visit to 
the famous temple of Prabat Moi, which he describes as 
having about it little that is remarkable. Its chief dis- 
tinction, however, and the fact which makes it celebrated 
and holy throughout Indo-China, is the footprint pre- 
served in its sanctuary which is piously believed by the 
faithful to be that of Buddha himself. 

After visiting Saraburi and ascending the Menam to 

* Vide supra, pp. 149, 150. 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 209 

Pak Priau, above which point the navigation of the river 
becomes more difficult owing to the number and the size 
of the rapids, he walked to Petawi for the purpose of vis- 
iting another famous pagoda. 

Mouhot subsequently returned down river to Bangkok, 
whence he travelled by Chinese junk to Chantabun, ex- 
ploring the islands lying off the coast and later the coun- 
try in the vicinity of his new headquarters. He also 
made a short journey into the neighbouring province of 
Batambang, and on his return travelled down the coast 
to Komput, in Kambodian territory. He visited Udong, 
the then capital of Kambodia, made a short stay at 
Pnom Penh, the present capital, and passing over the 
border into Annam spent three months among the wild 
tribes called Stiens, who occupy the Brelam country. 
After this he returned once more to Udong, ascended the 
branch of the Great Lake which joins the Mekong at 
Pnom Penh, and explored in detail the immense Khmer 
ruins of Angkor, which he was the first European to de- 
scribe minutely and with some pretence to scientific ac- 
curacy. This ^work accomplished, he passed a period of 
four months in the mountainous country of Pechaburi, 
thence returning overland to Bangkok, examining by the 
way some of the Khmer ruins in the province of Batam- 
bang. 

During all these wanderings Mouhot had broken little 
new ground, for almost everywhere the ubiquitous Roman 
Catholic missionaries, Frenchmen of the wonderful 
Societe des Missions Etrangeres, had been before him ; 
but on his return to Bangkok he set about making prep- 



210 FURTHER INDIA 

arations for his last and most important journey. It is at 
this point that Mouhot's travels begin to assume such 
geographical value as can be claimed for them. 

Proceeding up the Menam, he struck across country to 
Korat, and thence to Chaipun, where he arrived at the 
end of February, 1861. The governor of this place 
showed little inclination to assist him, and Mouhot found 
himself obliged to retrace his steps to Korat, the governor 
of which was more courteous and more amenable. 
With the transport here obtained, and armed with 
letters of introduction from the friendly governor, he set 
out once more to Chaipun. From this point he pushed 
on in a northerly direction to Muong Lui, and thence to 
Pak Lai,^ the place at which he first struck the upper 
reaches of the Mekong, a river whose acquaintance he 
had already made from Pnom Penh to its mouth. 

Even after he had reached the banks of the Mekong, 
Mouhot continued to travel, not by boat, but by bullock- 
waggon, following the trade-track along the right bank 
of the river. The arduous and difficult journey which he 
had accomplished had already tried him sorely, and 
Mouhot's journals show at this period unmistakable signs 
of acute mental depression. His instruments, in the 
rough journey across country, appear to have fared no bet- 
ter than their master, and an examination of the map filled 
in from his notes, which was the best information on the 
subject of upper Laos available prior to the de Lagree- 
Garnier expedition, shows that he had fallen into gross 
errors both in distance and in direction. The value of 

1 Vide supra, p. 202. 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG an 

the work which he had achieved at the cost of so much 
labour and pain was further depreciated by the fact that 
Mouhot did not survive to correct and explain the notes 
which he had made, and it is possible that some of the 
errors which resulted were due to misinterpretation of 
his memoranda. 

Luang Prabang itself was reached on July 25th, and 
after some sojourn in the place and an interview with its 
king, Mouhot started to explore the country on the left 
bank of the Mekong. On October 15th, his diary shows, 
he started on his return- journey to Luang Prabang. On 
the 19th, he notes that he is stricken down by fever, and 
ten days later comes the last pitiful entry, the voice of 
one crying in the wilderness, the despairing appeal of the 
lonely white man, far from aid and home and comfort, 
dying among aliens in a distant land : 

" Octobre 2pme. — Ayes pitie de moi, O mon Dieu!" 

Was ever the outcry of a human soul concentrated 
more pathetically into a single phrase? 

Five years later his countrymen found his grave in 
mid-forest near the little village of Ban Naphao, on the 
banks of the Nam Kan, at a short distance from Luang 
Prabang, and over it they reared a simple monument. 
The spot where the dead explorer lies is finely described 
by Francis Garnier, and I quote his words here as in the 
original. Translation could only mar a passage whose 
beauty, if it stood alone instead of being but one of many 
striking pieces of word-painting, would serve to prove 
that Francis Garnier, the man of action, united to his 
other great qualities those of the literary artist. 



212 FURTHER INDIA 

" Le paysage qui encadre le mausolee est gracieux et 
triste a la fois: quelques arbres au feuillage sombre 
Tabritent, et le bruissement de leur cimes se mele au 
grondement des eaux du Nam Kan qui coule a leur pieds. 
En face s'eleve un mur de roches noiratres qui forme 
I'autre rive du torrent : nulle habitation, nulle trace hu- 
maine aux alentours de la derniere demeure de ce Fran- 
gais aventureux, qui a prefere Tagitation des voyages et 
Tetude directe de la nature, au calme du foyer et a la 
science des livres. Seule parfois une pirogue legere 
passera devant ce lieu de repos, et le batelier laotien 
regardera avec respect, peut-etre avec effroi, ce souvenir 
a la fois triste et touchant du passage d'etrangers dans 
son pays. 

" Nous nous etions rendus au lieu de la sepulture en 
suivant a pied les bords du Nam Kan ; nous revinmes en 
barque a la fin du jour, en nous laissant aller au fil du 
courant. A chaque detour de la riviere, nous decou- 
vrions, sous les aspects les plus divers, le panorama 
anime de Luang Prabang, apparaissant et disparaissant 
tour a tour derriere le rideau mobile des arbres de la 
rive; de nombreux pecheurs tendaient leiirs filets au 
milieu des rochers et j usque dans les rapides que nos 
legeres pirogues franchissaient comme des fleches; des 
troupes de baigneurs et de baigneuses folatraient pres 
des bancs de sable qui parfois elargissaient le lit de la 
riviere. Autour de nous, le soleil couchant faisait etin- 
celer les eaux de mille reflets de pourpre et d'or. Tout 
dans ce paysage, sans cesse renouvele par la rapidite de 
notre locomotion, respirait une tranquillite et un bonheur 
apparents qui invitaient a Toubli du monde bruyant et 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 213 

agite dont le souvenir bouillonnait encore en nous. Quel 
contraste entre ce calme tableau du Laos tropical et cette 
Europe, dont le nom meme etait inconnu a ceux qui nous 
entouraient? Devions-nous les plaindre ou les feliciter 
de leur ignorance et de leur sauvagerie? Plus encore 
que la distance, ces differences entre la civilisation pour 
la cause de laquelle nous nous etions exiles, et la civilisa- 
tion dont nous etions devenus les botes, nous semblaient 
creuser entre nous et notre patrie un abime chaque jour 
plus grand.'* 

Mention has already been made of the Dutchman 
Duyshart,* whose surveying expedition undertaken at 
the behest of the Siamese Government had been magni- 
fied by native rumour into a wholesale invasion of upper 
Laos by the scientists of Great Britain. The fact that 
no detailed account of his journey appears to have been 
published leaves the nature of his discoveries somewhat 
vague. He seems, however, to have ascended the Menam 
from Bangkok to the mouth of its western branch, the 
Me-ping, and that river to Chieng Mai, whence he 
trekked across country, striking the Mekong at Chieng 
Kong, a point some 225 miles above Luang Prabang. It 
had thus fallen to the lot of this obscure Dutchman to 
be, so far as is known, the first white man to traverse 
the country lying between Chieng Mai and Chieng Kong, 
and without doubt the first to descend and survey the 
portion of the Mekong which lies southward of that 
point and between it and Luang Prabang. More than 
this we do not know concerning Duyshart's work, but 

*Vide supra, p. 201. 



214 FURTHER INDIA 

it is possible that his papers may have been disinterred 
from the pigeon-holes in Bangkok and have been utilised 
by Mr. J. McCarthy in the preparation of the great map 
of Siam published by the Royal Geographical Society, 
which is so largely the fruit of his own surveys and ex- 
plorations extending over a period of more than twenty 
years. 

The last, and in some respects the most important, of 
the travellers whose work, since it joins that of the de 
Lagree-Garnier expedition, calls for notice in this place, 
is the Scotsman, Captain, afterwards Major General, Mc- 
Leod. As his starting-point was Maulmain, his journey 
belongs properly to the story of Burman exploration, 
with which we shall presently deal in a separate chapter, 
but the more important part of his achievement having' 
been connected with the Shan States of Chieng Tong 
and Chieng Hong, and with his visit to the Mekong at 
the last named place, he is to be regarded in a special 
manner as the forerunner of the French mission, where- 
fore it will be more convenient to study his route now 
than later. 

McLeod started from Maulmain on December 13, 
1836, in the company of Dr. Richardson, who had 
already thrice visited Chieng Mai from lower Burma. 
On the present occasion Richardson was bound for Ava, 
whither he eventually made his way through the hill 
country of the Red Karins, while McLeod's immediate 
objective was Chieng Mai, whence he hoped to make a 
journey to Yun-nan through the eastern Shan States 
tributary to Ava. The travellers ascended the Gyne 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 21 j 

River in boats, reaching the last village in British terri- 
tory on the 1 6th December. From this point they pro- 
ceeded northward on elephant-back, crossing the Siamese 
boundary on Christmas Day, and parting company on 
the 26th, Richardson continuing his journey in a westerly 
direction to Mein-lung-hi, while McLeod headed for 
Muong Haut, or Muong Hal, by a route somewhat to the 
south of that followed by Richardson in his previous 
journeys to Chieng Mai. McLeod's path led into the 
valley of the Tsen-tsue, a tributary of the Salwin, and 
thence through the mountains to Muong Haut on the 
Me-ping, the river upon the banks of which Chieng Mai 
stands. On January 9, 1837, he reached Muong Lam- 
pun, or Labong as it was always called by the explorers 
from Burma, and after a sojourn of three days in that 
place passed on to " Zimme " (Chieng Mai), where he 
remained over a fortnight, the local authorities endeav- 
ouring to prevent hihi from proceeding upon his jour- 
ney. The explorer, however, had satisfied himself that 
the road leading to Chieng Tong was the only one which 
was of any importance for merchants bound for Yun- 
nan, and he therefore turned a deaf ear to the persuasions 
of the rulers of Chieng Mai and determined to travel by 
that route and by no other. At last on January 29th, 
accompanied by some Shan officers sent to escort him, he 
left Chieng Mai with six elephants, and on February 
6th reached the village of Puk Bong on the frontier of 
Chieng Mai territory, whence the road to Chieng Tong 
branches off. The first village under Chieng Tong juris- 
diction was reached on February 13th, and thirteen days 
later McLeod entered Chieng Tong itself, all the country 



2i6 FURTHER INDIA 

from Chieng Mai having never previously been traversed 
by a white man. The traveller had made a survey of his 
route, and he fixed the latitude of Chieng Tong at 21° 
47' 48" N., and the longitude at about 99° 39' E. His 
latitudes were very fairly exact, as he was able to deter- 
mine them by astronomical observations, but his longi- 
tudes were confessedly only approximately accurate. 

At Chieng Tong McLeod was well received by the 
Shan king of the place. Although incidentally he was 
doing geographical work of great value, his mission 
had as its primary object the establishment of trade 
between Maulmain and the Burmese Shan States. He 
had from the first been accompanied by a number of 
merchants who had brought with them British goods for 
sale in the local markets, and for these there was so 
great a demand in Chieng Tong that the traders decided 
that it would be unnecessary for them tO' go any farther 
with their leader and protector. McLeod, however, was 
bent upon penetrating into Yun-nan if that could by any 
means be done; he therefore bought some ponies for 
the journey, and at last persuaded the King of Chieng 
Tong to suffer him to depart. With this potentate the 
Scotsman succeeded in establishing most friendly rela- 
tions, and it is pleasant to recall that when de Lagree 
and Thorel visited the place thirty years later, they found 
McLeod's memory still green, and the King ready to aid 
any white man for the sake of the friend whom he re- 
membered with so much affection. 

McLeod left Chieng Tong on March ist, and passing 
through Muong La, reached Chieng Hong on March 9th. 
He here struck the Mekong at a point farther from the 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 217 

coast than any at which it had previously been visited by 
a white man, and it should be noted that the de Lagree- 
Garnier expedition, which had for its primary object the 
exploration of the course of the great river, never suc- 
ceeded in attaining to a point above that reached by the 
Scotsman. McLeod estimated the average width of the 
river at loo yards at the season* of his visit, and at 220 
yards at full water, its rise being at least 50 feet; he 
judged its velocity to be about 3 miles an hour. He re- 
mained at Chieng Hong for more than a fortnight while 
the authorities in Yun-nan were communicated with, but 
the answer to his request to be permitted to proceed was 
unfavourable. He was told that if he desired to enter the 
Celestial Empire, the front door, so to speak, was at Can- 
ton, a portal through which all foreigners were allowed 
to pass by the authorities at Peking, and that backdoors, 
such as the road into Yun-nan, were not open to visitors. 
He was also gravely told that " there was no precedent " 
for a foreign official coming by this route, and as, unlike 
the French travellers who later walked in his footsteps, 
he had not been furnished with letters of authority from 
Peking, he had no choice but to return to Burma. Ac- 
cordingly on March 26th he began his ride back to 
Chieng Tong, arriving there on the 31st; starting again 
on April 4th, he reached Chieng Mai on April i8th. 
Here he entered into long discussions with the King, his 
object being to get the road to Chieng Tong declared 
open to traffic for merchants from Maulmain, but in 
spite of the friendly nature of his intercourse with the 
authorities* he failed altogether in this object. 

McLeod fixed the latitude and longitude of Chieng Mai 



2i8 FURTHER INDIA 

at 1 8° 47' N. and about 99° 20' E. ; he collected from the 
natives a considerable amount of information concerning 
the neighbouring States of Muong Nam, Muong Phe 
and Luang Prabang; and when he left Chieng Mai it 
was by a new route, the high road to Bangkok. This 
runs south as far as Pang Nan Dit, then south-west to the 
Me-ping, which river McLeod crossed at Ban Nat. Up to 
this point the way had been through flat and grassy plains, 
but the Me-ping once crossed, more hilly country was 
entered, though only one really big hill had to be 
climbed. There were no cart-tracks here, but the diffi- 
culties in the way of making one were not great, and 
McLeod cherished the hope that the trade with Yun-nan 
might be tapped by this route and the Lakon road. 
Nothing, however, resulted from this suggestion. Mc- 
Leod made his way back to Maulmian via Kokarit and 
Mikalon. 

I have not dealt in detail with this traveller's descrip- 
tion of the Shan States through which he was the first 
to pass, as an account will be found in the chapters re- 
cording the journey of the French mission. It should 
be remembered, however, that McLeod was the first 
white man to visit and map these regions. 

The summary which has now been given of early ex- 
plorations in the Indo-Chinese Hinterland will enable 
the reader to understand when and to what extent the 
de Lagree-Garnier expedition was breaking ground en- 
tirely new, and when and to what extent they were 
stepping in the footprints of others. Even when the 
Frenchmen were not the first in the field, however, the 
almost unlimited time at their disposal and their superior 



UBON TO LUANG PRABANG 219 

scientific equipment rendered it possible for them to 
achieve valuable geographical results such as had never 
been within the reach of their predecessors, to many of 
whom commercial advantage, rather than abstract know- 
ledge, had been the primary object of their journeys. 



CHAPTER X 

THE SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 

AT Luang Prabang, in spite of a certain frigidity 
which at first marked the relations of the au- 
thorities with his party, de Lagree's tact and 
firmness speedily succeeded in overcoming the prejudices 
of the natives. He obtained an audience of the King on 
conditions honourable to himself, and was well treated 
in the matter of accommodation and provisions. But he 
found the opposition raised to the continuance of his 
journey less easy to remove. The Muhammadan rebellion 
in Yun-nan had been the signal for endless disorders in 
the Shan States which owed allegiance to China, and 
Luang Prabang had seized the opportunity thus afforded 
to omit sending the customary tribute, the contention 
of its authorities being that the roads to Yun-nan were 
impassable. It was therefore against their interests that 
a small party of Europeans should penetrate into China 
and so demonstrate the thinness of this pretext, and 
much was made of the difficulties which were declared 
to lie ahead of the explorers. 

Three routes were open to de Lagree's choice : firstly, 
that which led up the valley of the Mekong; secondly, 
that up the Nam Hu, a left influent of the great river ; 
and lastly, the route to Kwang Si, which traverses coun- 
try inhabited by mixed tribes situated between China and 
Tongking. The first route was also the longest, and it 

220 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 221 

had further the disadvantage of running through districts 
which had been devastated while their ownership was 
in dispute between Burma and Siam; it moreover led 
through the Shan States tributary to the Court of Ava, 
from which the explorers had obtained no letters of au- 
thority ; but on the other hand, from a geographical and 
political point of view it was by far the most interesting. 
The Nam Hu route was more direct, and in Yun-nan 
the Mekong River, which the explorers were loath to 
abandon, would again be struck; otherwise, however, 
it presented no special attractions. The Kwang Si route 
was perhaps the most difficult of all, for the King of 
Luang Prabang was at that moment fighting in that 
region, and also with the Annamites on the east, aid 
being lent to him by Siam. 

The large number of merchants from all parts of 
Indo-China found in the markets of Luang Prabang 
enabled the explorers to obtain a considerable amount of 
information concerning the various routes, and de La- 
gree long continued to be strongly biassed in favour of 
that via the Nam Hu. Garnier, on the other hand, who 
confesses that he was obsessed by " la monomanie du 
Mekong" pleaded hard that his beloved river should 
not be prematurely abandoned. In the end he succeeded 
in persuading his chief to adopt the first of the three 
routes, and de Lagree induced the King of Luang Pra- 
bang to provide him with letters of authority which 
should pass the expedition through all the country under 
his control. This was but another sign of the excellent 
relations which the Frenchmen had succeeded in estab- 
lishing with the natives ; indeed, their camp had become 



222 FURTHER INDIA 

the fashionable resort of the elite of Luang Prabang 
of both sexes. It was somewhat of a blow to the self- 
complacency of the explorers when the King's niece, a 
buxom young damsel whose behaviour had been most 
empresse, volunteered the opinion that the advanced age 
of the visitors, as proved by their flowing beards, ren- 
dered them in the last degree innocuous, and made the 
bare idea of their exciting jealousy in the breasts of the 
most suspicious altogether farcical and absurd. 

The baggage of the expedition was now lightened as 
much as possible. Already the first rains had fallen, and 
the Mekong was coming down in semi-spate; but fight- 
ing their way doggedly against the current, the explorers 
reached Chieng Khong on June 5th. Joubert and de 
Carne were sent from Ban Tanun to explore some 
" volcanoes," which were reported to exist in the neigh- 
bourhood, but discovered that they were merely fissures 
in the ground emitting volumes of sulphureous and other 
gaseous vapours. Garnier took a few soundings in the 
Nam Hu. 

The character of the Laotine natives inhabiting these 
upper reaches of the Mekong was found to differ mate- 
rially from that of their neighbours in lower Laos. The 
" black-belHed " folk, as the northern Laotines are called 
on account of the tattooing from waist to knee which 
they practise, are somewhat more vigorous in body and 
in mind than the " white-bellied " men of the south. 
They are more independent, more proud, more self- 
respecting, and Garnier declared them to be at once more 
frank and more lively than the people of lower Laos, 
who are losing little by little all that remains to them 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 223 

of energy, initiative, and resource. Climate has doubt- 
less had something to do with this, the constant and 
enervating heat of the tropics sapping in the long course 
of centuries the energy of the natives of Kambodia and 
lower Laos; but over and above climatic influence, po- 
litical circumstances must be taken into account. Their 
own decay contributed to their subjection to Siam, but 
the rule of any Oriental race by another, and especially 
the rule of any alien people by the cruel, corrupt and 
inefficient officers of Siam, inevitably makes for the de- 
struction of all that is best in the character of the subject 
people. 

From Chieng Khong the explorers passed up river to 
Chieng Hsen, a ruined city which is situated some three 
or four miles above the junction of the Nam Kok and 
the Mekong. Under Thama Trai Pidok, one of the most 
famous of the many kings who ruled over a Laotine 
principality, and who in his time extended his conquests 
almost to Ayuthia, this place throve and prospered 
mightily. The exact period covered by its prosperity 
cannot be definitely ascertained. Chien Hsen itself was 
finally destroyed by the Siamese in 1774. The story of 
the numberless kingdoms of Indo-China has never yet 
been fully told. What knowledge we possess of it is in 
the nature of fragments, but even these suffice to show 
the welter of struggle and strife, invasion, attack and 
defence, travail of kingdoms suddenly reared and as 
suddenly destroyed, which taken together make up the 
recorded past of these unhappy lands. The end of their 
sufferings is not yet, but one cannot rise from an exam- 
ination of their history without a genuine sense of satis- 



224 FURTHER INDIA 

faction that the influence of France on the one side, 
and of Great Britain on the other, has done much, and 
in the future will do more, to establish lasting peace 
among these troubled and contending nations. 

Above Chieng Hsen the Mekong was found once 
more to flow through a mountainous region, and on 
June 1 8th the foot of a rapid called Tang He was 
reached, an insurmountable barrier past which it was 
not possible to carry the boats. Messengers were sent 
forward to Muong Lim, a dependency of Chieng Tong, 
to obtain transport, and Garnier, loath to quit the river, 
tramped alone up the left bank, passing through un- 
touched forest in which the beasts had not yet learned 
to fear man, a little expedition of which he gives an 
account that is one of the finest passages in his works. 

Muong Lim, standing on a plain, was reached by cross- 
ing two small ranges of hills, and in these days, when 
it has become the fashion to decry the ingenuity and the 
enterprise of our merchants, it is gratifying to note that 
the admiration of the Frenchmen was excited by the 
discovery that the cottons here exposed for sale were all 
of English manufacture, and that they had evidently 
been woven specially with a view to the Burmese and 
Shan markets, their colours being those most popular 
among the natives, and the designs printed upon the 
stuffs being pagodas and other objects of local venera- 
tion. At this place, too, the near neighbourhood of China 
began to be apparent. Money was weighed, for instance, 
in the Chinese fashion, and Chinese as well as Burmese 
weights were in use. The confusion thus caused was 
worse confounded by the practice, almost universal in 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 225 

the East, of employing two separate sets of scales — the 
one with very light weight, for selling, the other, prepos- 
terously heavy, for buying! The wild tribes encountered 
at Muong Lim, called Mu Tseu, Colonel Yule believed 
to be identical with the Miao-Tseu, people of Caucasian 
origin inhabiting some districts of southern China, who 
almost alone afford an example of a race which has had 
sufficient resistant power to escape assimilation with the 
Mongolian element. As will be seen from the illustra- 
tion here reproduced from Garnier's book, the Mu Tseu 
are a Gipsy-looking folk, much given to personal adorn- 
ment with silver ornaments and tinsel. In appearance 
and costume they resemble curiously the Kadayan tribes 
of western Borneo. 

On June 28th leave to proceed was received from 
"the King of Khemarata and of Tungkaburi/' as his 
majesty of Chieng Tong styled himself, but the French- 
men were warned that fresh authority would be needed 
before they could visit the capital. On July ist, there- 
fore, a start was made, the objective of the expedition 
being Chieng Hong. The health of the party had of 
late suffered severely owing to the prevailing rains, both 
Garnier and Thorel being prostrated by fever, while 
Delaporte had such badly ulcerated feet that he had to 
be carried in a litter. The resources of the expedition 
were also becoming perilously slender, and a further 
reduction of baggage to save cost of transport was de- 
cided upon. It is impossible not to admire the pluck, 
endurance and tenacity displayed at this juncture by the 
Frenchmen, and it is enormously to their credit that the 
bare notion of turning back or of abandoning their enter- 



iiS FURTHER INDIA 

prise does not even seem to have been mooted among 
them. 

Paleo, the place at which the reduction of baggage 
was made, is distant only two miles from the banks of 
the Mekong, and although he had just completed a tramp 
of five hours' duration over wooded hills, Garnier was 
drawn to his river as by an irresistible magnet. He 
found the left bank still owing allegiance to Siam, 
though the northern boundary lies only a few miles 
higher up. The river was flowing down, magnificent, 
imposing, beautiful as ever, but as a highway of trade 
it had ceased to be used, all goods being transported 
overland by preference. 

On July 9th, after tramping over hilly country cov- 
ered with dense forest, broken only here and there by a 
few cotton plantations, and after being drenched to the 
skin continually by heavy showers, the explorers reached 
Siam-Lao, where a halt was called until July 23rd. Gar- 
nier, indefatigable as ever, paid a visit to the Mekong, 
which he found still quite navigable, and in this district 
wild tribes called the Khas Khos and the Khas Kuis were 
met with, the former wearing their hair in pig-tails and 
shaving their scalps, the latter resembling the Burmans 
in appearance but wearing the dress of the Shans. On 
July 1 6th an invitation to visit Chieng Tong was received 
from the King of that place, but de Lagree decided to 
decline it, and two days later letters came in authorising 
the party to proceed to Chieng Kheng. A long day's 
march across country in which the rivers were in spate, 
the tracks submerged, and the only practicable paths so 
overgrown through disuse as to present formidable diffi- 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 227 

culties, brought the explorers to Sop Yong on the banks 
of the Mekong, of which river, rolling down in high 
flood, glimpses had been obtained from time to time 
throughout the tramp. On the way a hot stream, in 
which the mercury registered 218.8° F., was discovered, 
and the Nam Yong, a large and beautiful river which 
joins its waters to those of the Mekong at Sop Yong, 
was crossed in boats. Sop Yong itself was a miserable 
little village, containing only four houses, and proved 
to be quite unequal to the task of supplying a new 
relay of bearers or even a sufficiency of provisions. 
Accordingly on July 27th Francis Garnier, filled with 
joy at finding himself once more afloat on the bosom 
of his beloved river, ascended the Mekong in a canoe 
for the purpose of enlisting porters. At Nam Kung he 
fell in with a Lu headman who, for one of his race and 
opportunities, had been a great traveller in his day, hav- 
ing actually journeyed to the sea via Tongking. Through 
the good offices of this man a number of human beasts 
of burden were procured. The expedition next travelled 
up the valley of the Nam Yong, reaching Ban Pasang, 
a cluster of villages lying in the centre of a rice plain, 
on August 1st. The province of Muong Yu had now 
been quitted for that of Muong Yong, which is under the 
jurisdiction of Chieng Tong, and to Muong Yong itself 
the party proceeded on August 7th. . This place, situated 
in the foot-hills to the west of the Yong valley, was a 
powerful city in its day. It is girt about by a moat and 
wall, within which the ground slopes up gradually to a 
pagoda. The Burmese agent stationed at Muong Yong 
professed to be friendly to the visitors, but secretly he 



228 FURTHER INDIA 

placed many obstacles in their way, and eventually de 
Lagree found it necessary to go in person to Chieng 
Tong, his refusal to accept the invitation sent him by 
the King of that city having proved prejudicial to the 
interests of the expedition. Taking Thorel with him, he 
presently started on this mission, leaving the rest of the 
party at Muong Yong with fever rampant in their midst. 
Garnier took the opportunity thus afforded to him to 
examine some ruins in the neighbourhood, which proved 
to be interesting and to resemble those of Angkor, albeit 
they are inferior to the great Khmer remains. The Tat, 
or sacred monument, of Chom Yong was also visited, 
and was found to be older than the ruins of Muong 
Yong, while the tradition of Tevata Nakhon — " The 
Kingdom of the Angels " — as the ancient Khmer empire 
is called in Laos, was universally cherished by the learned 
classes in this Shan State. 

De Lagree and Thorel meanwhile made their way to 
Chieng Tong via Muong Khai, traversing country mainly 
peopled by the tribe called Doe, whose civilisation is 
equal to that of the Shans, and whom Yule believed to 
be merely Shans who have escaped the modifying influ- 
ence of Buddhism. Chieng Tong was reached on August 
23rd, and the King of that place was most cordial, his 
friendship for McLeod, who had left an excellent repu- 
tation behind him, predisposing him in favour of Euro- 
peans. The Burmese agent, on the other hand, who had 
taken great umbrage at his omission from the list of 
those to whom de Lagree had sent presents, did his best 
to thwart the visitors, and it was not until September 
3rd that the necessary passports were forthcoming. 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 229 

The country around Chieng Tong and Muong Yong, 
in common with most of the Shan States, has constantly 
been in dispute between its more powerful neighbours, 
and has consequently been a battle-field for all. At the 
time of the Frenchmen's visit, though Burmese or Siam- 
ese agents were stationed in each Shan State, the con- 
trol exercised over the local authorities was by no means 
as complete as in the Laos kingdoms below Luang 
Prabang. 

Chieng Tong at this time was built upon a cluster of 
little hills, and was surrounded by a moat and wall some 
seven and a half miles in circumference. The palace was 
a wooden building with a tile roof; there were a score 
of pagodas in the place, the architecture of which showed 
unmistakable signs of Chinese influence; and a remark- 
able Tat, that of Chom Sri, stood without the walls. 

Leaving Chieng Tong, de Lagree and Thorel passed 
over the hills into the valley of the Nam Lui, striking 
that river at Muong Uak, a point at which it begins to 
be navigable, and crossing to the left bank climbed over 
another range into the province of Muong Sam-Tao. 
Ban Kien, the capital, a big town built on the highest 
point of the surrounding plateau, was visited, where an 
important armoury which was turning out some 3,000 
muskets per annum was found. The plateau is thickly 
populated, principally by Does, who number some 10,000 
souls. On September nth de Lagree reached the junc- 
tion of the Nam Lui with the Nam Lem, and two days 
later arrived at Muong Yu on the right bank of the for- 
mer river, where he rejoined Gamier and the rest of the 
party who had come direct from Muong Yong. After 



230 FURTHER INDIA 

a halt of five days the expedition once more crossed the 
Nam Lui, and struck out for Muong Long. 

Following a path which zigzagged up the hillside 
until the summit was reached, the explorers passed down 
into the valley of the Nam Nga on September 19th, and 
continued their journey through numerous villages, set 
in the midst of rice-fields, to Muong Long. This is a 
place of 1,500 to 1,800 inhabitants, situated on the banks 
of the Nam Kama, a tributary of the Nam Nga, and is 
reached from the stone bridge which spans the latter 
stream by means of a paved road. The bridge, the road, 
and a number of carved lions which had been broken 
and cast aside during some period of destructive war- 
fare, were all found to be of distinctly Chinese design, 
and the near neighbourhood of China — ^the goal towards 
which the Frenchmen had been toiling for so many 
weary months — was further attested by the presence in 
the gaping crowd which turned out to meet them of two 
indubitably Chinese women. 

" Les Chinoises en question'^ says Gamier, " etaient 
vieilles, sales et decrepites, mais Us avaient les petits pieds 
— cela suMsait pour aifirmer leur nationalite d'une maniere 
incontestable et justiUer Vadmiration de mes compagnons" 

Here the explorers were at last on the very frontiers 
of the Promised Land. What room for wonder if, after 
all their privations, all their labours, all their struggles, 
this precious knowledge served to hearten them again, 
and to nerve them to renewed endeavour? 

In other respects, too, the prospects of the expedition 
showed signs of brightening. The health of the party 
had improved; the rainy season was at an end; and the 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 231 

local authorities at Muong Long were proving amenable. 
The King and the Senay or governing body of Chieng 
Hong — the immediate objective of the explorers — threat- 
ened to create difficulties, however, and Alevy, the in- 
valuable, was sent forward to make the rough paths 
smooth. De Lagree and his whole band followed him 
on September 27th, permission to advance having been 
accorded to them. The way led through densely popu- 
lated country, where the streams were crossed by bridges 
with convenient benches set upon them to invite the 
weary to repose. After passing the Nam Pui, hilly 
country was entered where the wooded slopes recalled to 
the exiles many well-remembered spots in la belle France. 
The track, however, led up and down hill unceasingly, 
and now and again lost itself in bogs, the flagged road 
having ended at a very short distance from Muong 
Long. The people of this district were mostly Khos 
tribesmen, a pale-skinned race whose presence in this 
European-looking country emphasised its resemblance to 
the dear home-land. The ending of the wet season had 
let loose the dammed-up trade of Chieng Hong, and 
numerous caravans of laden pack-bullocks, bearing stores 
of tea, lead, cotton, and tobacco, were met upon the road. 
On September 29th the explorers emerged on to the 
great plain of Chieng Hong, via the valley of a tributary 
of the Nam Ha, a river which falls into the Mekong at 
Chip Song Panna. Having passed across the plain, on 
which villages newly reared stood cheek by jowl with 
others which a ruthless war had ruined, and having 
crossed the Nam Ha by ferry-boat, the travellers camped 
in a pagoda without the walls of Chieng Hong, where 



232 FURTHER INDIA 

they were speedily joined by Alevy. He had failed to 
obtain an interview with the King, or with either the 
Chinese or the Burmese agent stationed at the Court of 
this much administered monarch; but he had harangued 
the Sena, and had bluffed that august body into grant- 
ing permission to his employers to advance to Chieng 
Hong. On the very morning of their arrival, after a 
great discussion in the Sena, the Chinese agent had 
left post-haste for Yun-nan, for what purpose was 
unknown. 

De Lagree acted promptly, and called upon the Sena 
to give him a formal refusal in writing to his request to 
be allowed to proceed, or else to furnish the transport 
necessary to enable him to continue his journey. The 
Sena finally yielded, wherefore an audience with the 
King was arranged, and the requisite transport was 
promised. Garnier did not attend the interview, for, 
finding himself once more close to the Mekong, he was 
fain to visit it. It here measures about 400 yards across, 
running between high banks, and Garnier followed it up 
for some miles, though, as the trade-tracks lie at a con- 
siderable distance from the stream, the dense bamboo 
jungle made walking somewhat difficult. What he saw 
of it reminded him of the troubled reaches above Vien 
Chan; for the Mekong flows towards Chieng Hong 
through broken and mountainous country. The ruins of 
the old town, destroyed by Maha Sai and completely 
overgrown with jungle, were also visited by several 
members of the expedition, and the remains of the palace 
and of, one pagoda proved to be of great interest, their 
architecture and ornamentation surpassing in beauty and 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 233 

originality anything seen by the travellers since their 
entry into the Laos country. 

Leaving Chieng Hong on October 8th, the explorers 
crossed the Mekong upon a huge ferry-raft just above 
the town. 

" Oetait la derniere fois que nous naviguions les eaux 
du Mekong," writes Garnier, with very genuine grief in 
his words ; " it fallait dire un adieu deiinitif a tons ces 
pay sages imposants ou gracieux avec lesquels un long 
sejour sur ses bords nous avait familiarises, Les fetes 
sur Veau, les courses de pirogues, les illuminations 
venitiennes, les dangers et les plaisirs qui lui avaient 
fait une place a part dans nos souvenirs, tout cela allaient 
etre remplace sur la scene du voyage par des decors 
nouveaux et des impressions d'un autre genre." 

The uncertain promise of the future, despite its mys- 
tery and its compelling interest, was powerless to con- 
sole at least one heart among the adventurers for this 
parting with the great river which had borne them com- 
pany for so long, and which had won so great a place 
in his affections. Still, Chieng Hong was the uttermost 
point to which McLeod had attained in 1837; now, after 
a lapse of thirty years, it was to fall to the lot of this 
little band of Frenchmen to penetrate into lands which 
had hitherto been hidden from the prying eyes of the 
West. In this thought there was magic, and a rich re- 
ward for privations passed and dangers yet to come. 

Once across the Mekong, the explorers zigzagged up 
the hills, through sparsely populated country, to Muong 
Yang. On October 9th the valley of the Nam Yang 



234 FURTHER INDIA 

was quitted and a mountainous region was entered. The 
party camped that night at a height of 4,500 feet above 
sea-level, and so passed on to Chieng Nua, the last im- 
portant Shan village, which is regarded as "the portal 
of China." On October 12th the Frenchmen quitted the 
valley of the Nam Yot, in which Chieng Nua stands, by 
a narrow gorge which led them to Muong Pang, a village 
which, half hidden in a fold of the hills, 3,800 feet above 
sea-level, was found to be in some sort an integral por- 
tion of the Celestial Empire — the first outpost of the 
Promised Land. The population was partly Thai, partly 
Chinese, and huts built on the ground had replaced the 
houses perched on piles in use in the Shan States, while 
benches, tables, ploughs, winnowing machines, and the 
improved character of the tillage, all bore witness to the 
existence of a higher standard of civilisation. The im- 
mense energy of the Chinese, as evidenced even here on 
the outskirts of their empire, struck the explorers with 
admiration and surprise after their long sojourn among 
folk of a lesser breed. That night they were treated to 
a " musical " entertainment, in which certain athletic 
Thais performed gymnastic exercises with feet, knees, 
and hands, upon a number of gongs. 

From Muong Pang the party made its way to Chu 
Chai, through country in which villages were perched on 
the caps of most of the hills, amid clumps of oak and 
pine, while maize had replaced rice crops on the higher 
levels, and plums, pears, peaches, and vegetables such as 
the Chinese love, were cultivated in great abundance. 
Chu Chai, reached on October i6th, was the first purely 
Chinese place met with, and Garnier noted that the 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 235 

peculiar power of the Chinese civilisation to mould all 
whom it influences into conformity with a single type 
was as plainly evident here as in the country between 
Tien-Tsin and Peking, which he had visited during the 
Franco-Chinese war. 

" Nous retrouvions partout," he writes, " ce cachet 
d'uniformite routiniere qu'une civilisation, vieille de plu- 
sieurs milliers d'annees, a su imprinter aux moeurs d'une 
immense population, malgre la diversite des origines et 
Vet endue d'un territoire qui reunit tous les climats." 

The devastation caused by the Muhammadan rebellion 
was now becoming apparent; moreover the ravages of 
cholera had caused many homesteads to be deserted. The 
events of the insurrection were painted by the natives in 
lurid colours, and the prowess of the rebels and the mar- 
vellous weapons at their disposal were exaggerated fan- 
tastically. Passing through this land of roofless houses, 
deserted fields, and blackened ruins, the explorers came 
at last to an immense plain, in the centre of which is 
Se-Mao, the first Chinese city of Yun-nan. The goal 
towards which they had been struggling with such splen- 
did endurance was reached. Here was China in very 
truth, and her portals had at length been forced upon 
the western side. 

" Ce ne fut pas sans une vive emotion que nous salu- 
ames cette premiere ville chinoise qui dressait devant 
nous ses toits hospitaliers. Apres dix-huit mois de 
fatigues, aprh avoir traverse des regions presque vierges 
encore de pas humains, nous nous trouvions en presence 



^36 FURTHER INDIA 

d'une cite de VOrient. Pour la premiere fois, des voy- 
ageurs europeens penetraient en Chine par la frontiere 
indo-chinoise ! A ce moment sans doute, notre en- 
thoiisiasme depassa la mesure: les souff ranees dont nous 
r avians paye nous exagererent I' importance du resultat, 
et, un instant, nous crumes de bonne foi que la Chine 
se revelait eniin a I' Europe, representee par six Fran- 
gais! " 

It was a great achievement, and the victory was all the 
more precious because it had been bought at the price of 
so much toil and suffering, yet I make no doubt that the 
band of hardy adventurers felt, in this first moment of 
their triumph, that for all their pains they now received 
" an over-payment of delight." 

The entrance of the explorers into Se-Mao, where 
they were received by genuflecting mandarins, an escort 
of soldiers, and huge crowds of curious spectators, was 
an occasion of some embarrassment to the travel-worn 
members of the expedition. Shoeless and with their 
clothes in tatters, they were conscious of cutting a de- 
spicable figure in the eyes of their punctilious and 
form-lovjng hosts, but for all that they were kindly 
treated by the Governor, and on October 30th they 
pushed on to Pu-ul-fu. Se-Mao was at this time an 
immense armed camp. Fighting was even then going 
on at Muong Ka and Muong Pan with the Kuitze, 
as the insurgent Muhammadans were called, and the 
local authorities had ceased to be practically controlled 
by the central Government at Peking. Having procured 
shoes at the shops of Se-Mao, the travellers passed with 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 237 

comfort over the paved road leading from that place to 
Pu-ul-fu, though the country all around was utterly 
devastated. Pu-ul-fu, v^hich is the capital of a province 
of which Se-Mao, Tai-lang, and Uei-yuan are the prin- 
cipal towns, was under the charge of a prefect, " melan- 
colique docteur a bouton rouge/^ who was suffering badly 
from funk, and entreated de Lagree to abandon his 
project of further exploration of lands so troublous. 

Garnier had been pestering his chief for permission to 
go alone across country to the Mekong, distant some 
seven days' journey from Pu-ul-fu, but after weighing 
all the chances, de Lagree decided that the risks were too 
great, and his lieutenant had to resign himself to the 
abandonment of the object he had nearest at heart — the 
discovery of the sources of the great river. 

From Pu-ul-fu the party crossed through hilly country 
into the valley of the Pa-pien, an affluent of the Black 
River, or Song Bo, which is one of the main branches 
of the Song Koi, or Red River of Tongking. New 
heights were scaled leading up to the plateau of Yun- 
nan, and after passing through the town of Tong Kuan 
and crossing the Pu-ku Kiang in boats, the travellers 
reached Tai-lang, a city somewhat smaller than Pu-ul-fu, 
on November 9th. Here potatoes were found for the first 
time for many long months, while the surrounding dis- 
trict yielded an abundance of European fruits. An ex- 
traordinary feature of this valley was that peaches, pears, 
and chestnuts were growing almost side by side with 
mangoes, guavas and other tropical fruits. Here too a 
new tribe of " wild folk " was met — the Ho-Nhi — a fine 
race, resembling the Khas Khos, in whom Garnier 



238 FURTHER INDIA 

thought to detect specimens of the aboriginal people 
from whom the natives of Laos and the Shan States are 
descended. The important gold mines in the vicinity, in 
which as many as 10,000 labourers had been employed 
in peaceful times, were also visited. 

On November i6th, climbing the heights to the east 
of Tai-lang, near the summits of which the first fields of 
the opium-poppy were seen, the explorers marched all 
day through pelting rain. After crossing a torrent by 
means of a very fine stone bridge, and breasting a steep 
ascent, they looked down upon the valley of the Ho-ti- 
Kiang, in which, amid verdure and cultivation of a 
semi-tropical character, is situated the town of Yuan- 
kiang. This place was ruled by the Thais until the 
Chinese finally possessed themselves of it in 1712, and 
large numbers of the " wild " people called Pa-i, who 
seem to be a branch of the Thai family, still live in its 
neighbourhood. Near Yuan-kiang large quantities of 
cotton and sugar-cane are grown, and Joubert visited the 
copper mines which are also a feature of the district. 
The town stands on the banks of the Ho-ki Kiang, which 
is here some 300 yards across. Lower down the stream 
narrows, but is navigable for some distance until its bed 
becomes impeded by rapids. Down the Ho-ki Kiang the 
expedition proceeded in boats to Pu-pio, whence a road 
leads to Che-pin. Here there is an impassable rapid, but 
Garnier obtained a boat below this obstruction and fol- 
lowed the river down for some distance. It ran through 
deep gorges pent between heights which sometimes at- 
tained an elevation of 3,000 feet, and very soon a rapid 
was reached which could not be negotiated. Garnier 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 239 

accordingly had to scale the cliffs, a matter of some dif- 
ficulty, and to make his way to Lin-ngan across a great 
plateau, arriving there in advance of his chief. His 
coming caused immense popular excitement, and it was 
with great relief that Garnier hailed the arrival of de 
Lagree and his party on the following day. 

At Lin-ngan the explorers made the acquaintance of 
Leang Ta Jen, a remarkable man who, from humble 
beginnings, had by sheer force of character, skill in 
leadership, and courage, succeeded in raising himself to 
one of the foremost positions in this part of China. A 
man of herculean build and of vigorous manner, he pre- 
sented a striking contrast to the poor dyspeptic of Pu-ul- 
fu, and while he treated the strangers with marked cour- 
tesy, did nothing to dissuade them from their enterprise. 
From him and others Garnier collected, while at Lin- 
ngan, a considerable number of data concerning the 
neighbouring provinces and the route to Tongking via 
the Red River — data which subsequently aided the 
Frenchman, Dupuis, to push his discoveries in this 
direction. 

From Lin-ngan the party proceeded across the plain 
to Che-pin on the borders of a lake some SJ miles in 
length, and on December 14th Tong-hai was reached, a 
town situated on the banks of a lake somewhat larger 
than that of Che-pin. Here the crowds again proved 
troublesome. 

Tong-hai, like most of the towns of the province at 
this time, was a great armed camp, and on the heights 
above it was a fortified post named Tung-Kao, which 
was held by a band of Muhammadans who remained in 



240 FURTHER INDIA 

possession until 1870, when, having refused the honour- 
able terms of surrender offered to them, they died in a 
fashion which may fairly be termed heroic. On Decem- 
ber 17th the lake of Kiang-Chuan was seen, — a patch of 
blue water between snow-clad mountains, — its borders 
tilled and densely peopled, the heights above it barren 
and covered sparsely with patches of rhododendron 
scrub. 

Passing through an enormous grave-yard on the bor- 
ders of the lake, the travellers climbed to the summit of 
a range some 6,000 feet above sea-level, and thence ob- 
tained a splendid view of the surrounding country. To 
the south lay Kiang Chuan with its plain and lake, and 
with Chin Kiang at its northern extremity ; to the north 
rich valleys fell away to the plain of Yun-nan, in which 
the greatest of the lakes seemed a veritable sea. Having 
descended the range, the explorers reached Tsin-ning, at 
the entrance to the plain, on December 21st, and found 
that its neighbourhood presented a terrible picture of the 
devastation which Muhammadans can work in the name 
of their faith. From this point a paved road led to the 
town of Yun-nan, and as they passed along it the French- 
men observed that the signs of ravage ceased, and the 
increasing traffic and the number and beauty of the way- 
side buildings showed that they were nearing the capital. 
Splendid stone bridges, similar to those which had ex- 
cited the admiration of the travellers near Muong Long, 
were crossed at frequent intervals, and after long wan- 
derings through countries peopled by weaker races, the 
innate greatness and energy of the Chinese civilisation 
struck the visitors with something akin to wonder. 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 241 

" Jamais'' writes Garnier, " la puissante civilisation 
dont nous etions les hotes ne s'etait reveUe a nous avec 
aiitant d' enchantment et sous d'aussi riches apparences. 
La nouveaiite de ce spectacle, marque dans tons ses de- 
tails de ce caractere Strange qui est special au Celeste- 
Empire, le souvenir des forets et de la barbaric au milieu 
desquelles nous avions si longtemps vecus nous faisaient 
parfois croire a un reve, et nous nous surprenions a 
rougir de nos allures miserable s et de nos costumes in- 
formes et souilles, en croisant un palanquin ou en frolant 
les robes de soie des bourgeois qui se pressaient sur le 
seuil de leur maisons pour voir passer les Strangers,'' 

Yun-nan was sighted at mid-day, and presently a minor 
mandarin arriving from the city handed to de Lagree a 
letter written in French ! Coming now at the end of so 
long a period of exile and isolation, this missive was to 
the wanderers as a very breath of Home. They gath- 
ered round their chief and scanned the precious page 
with hungry eyes; it seemed to them, inconsequently 
enough, that they would now learn the tidings of 
France for which they were pining. They entered the 
city through its southern portal, and passing up the long 
street amid curious crowds took possession of the yamen 
which had been placed at their disposal. They were met 
by some of the officials of the place, and Pere Protteau, 
the author of the letter, hastened to introduce himself 
to his compatriots. The town was in a state bordering 
upon panic caused by recent Muhammadan successes. 
It was a great rectangular place, enclosed by walls meas- 
uring 2 miles by ij, and its population of 50,000 souls 



242 FURTHER INDIA 

were all professedly in the Imperial interest, although 
many of them were Muslims, the Muhammadans of Yun- 
nan being divided at this time into two camps, the one 
loyal to Peking, the other paying allegiance to the Sul- 
tan whose capital was Ta-li-fu. 

The insurrection had had its beginning more than ten 
years earlier, in 1856, when the Muhammadans of Yun- 
nan city rose and pillaged that place. The Chinese au- 
thorities thereupon decided upon a general massacre of 
the Muslims, and in the city of Yun-nan alone some 
thousands perished. With the hour of the Muslims' 
need, however, came also the man, — one Tu-uan-si, — 
who taking the field with some forty of his coreligionists, 
was speedily joined by others who had escaped the gen- 
eral massacre. With 600 men this leader marched upon 
Ta-li-fu, the town of next importance to the capital 
in the province of Yun-nan, and here the garrison of 
4,000 soldiers, many of them Muslims, surrendered to 
him without a blow being struck. The Chinese authori- 
ties immediately besieged Ta-li-fu, but their troops 
were routed, and the victorious Muhammadans promptly 
marched against Yun-nan. Pang, the governor of the 
province, succeeded in checking their advance, but he 
was assassinated shortly afterwards, and a Muhamma- 
dan Haji, styled Lao Papa, was proclaimed emperor. 
Ma Tien, who later assumed the title of Ma Ta Jen, 
a Muhammadan leader professedly in the Imperial in- 
terest, lost no time in deposing Lao Papa, who there- 
upon retired into obscurity, though as a great doctor 
of Muhammadan Law he continued to exercise consid- 
erable religious influence over all the Muslims of the 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 243 

province. Ma Ta Jen set up in his stead a governor 
on whom he conferred the title of Lao Ta Jen, though 
the actual power continued to be vested in the Mu- 
hammadan king-maker. In the south, Leang Ta Jen, 
the giant of whom mention has already been made, re- 
fused to obey either Ma Ta Jen or his puppet, and the 
two factions, both nominally Imperial, were soon at open 
warfare. In the encounters which resulted the giant had 
the best of it, and Ma Ta Jen was for a period a prisoner 
at Lin-ngan. Later an accommodation was come to, and 
Ma Ta Jen, being set at liberty, succeeded in driving the 
rebel Muhammadans out of Yun-nan. They then fell 
back upon Ta-li-fu, which they fortified, and which 
thenceforth became their capital and the centre of their 
power. The adventurer Tu-uan-si was there proclaimed 
Sultan in 1867. In the southern portion of the province 
Leang Ta Jen, the giant, continued to reign, practically 
without reference to Peking, while at the time of the 
Frenchmen's visit Ma Ta Jen was supreme in the north, 
Lao Papa, his dreams of temporal power laid aside, liv- 
ing peacefully in the city of Yun-nan. Throughout all 
these troubles Peking maintained an attitude of magnifi- 
cent indifference, the fact being that the interest of the 
Imperial authorities in this outlying flange of the empire 
ceased to be active when the province itself discontinued 
the regular payment of tribute. 

On the (lay following his arrival, de Lagree hastened 
to pay a visit to Ma Ta Jen, and was well received ; but 
the king-maker was powerless to further his guest's de- 
sire to proceed to Ta-li-fu, whence it would be possible 
to explore the upper reaches of the Mekong. Beyond 



244 FURTHER INDIA 

the confines of his immediate province, the authority of 
this Muhammadan viceroy did not run, and the Ta-H-fu 
district, as has been said, was in the hands of the rebel 
Sultan. From the excellent Pere Protteau, also, neither 
aid nor information could be obtained. The good priest 
was kindly, courteous, and devoted. Dressed in Chinese 
costume, living on native food and in the native fashion, 
he appeared to have become totally denationalised, and 
he stood in great awe of the local authorities. He was 
zealous in his religious work, however, and the French- 
men had the curious experience of attending Midnight 
Mass on Christmas Day in this distant Chinese city. On 
January 2nd, however, another missionary arrived. This 
was Pere Fenouil, who, under his native name of Ko- 
su-to, had been heard of by the explorers as a first-rate 
fighting man and an indefatigable manufacturer of gun- 
powder, ever since their arrival in Chinese territory. 

" Nous retrouvames en lui" writes Garnier, " un 
homme qui pleurait a la pensee de sa mere, un Frangais 
dont le cceur battait toujours au nom de sa patrie. Nous 
admirames Vohscur devouement du P. Protteau, nous 
aimames le P. Fenouil." 

Acting on the advice of this new-comer, de Lagree 
paid a visit to Lao Papa, the Muhammadan sage and 
saint who for a day had played the proud role of emperor 
in Yun-nan. The holy man was much interested in 
astronomy, and had in his possession a fine telescope, 
brought at much expense from Singapore. Over this in- 
strument, which hitherto had defied his attempts to focus 
it, a pact of friendship was presently sealed, Lao Papa 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 245 

furnishing the explorers with letters recommending them 
to all his coreligionists. Ma Ta Jen, for his part, ad- 
vanced 5,000 francs to de Lagree, saying that repayment 
was quite unnecessary, but that if the Frenchman was 
really concerned about such details, he might send him 
the equivalent in rifles when he reached the coast. One 
cannot but be struck with the extraordinary hospitality, 
courtesy and kindness with which the strangers were 
invariably treated by the authorities in China. From the 
crowds collected to stare at them they occasionally suf- 
fered some inconvenience, but I greatly question whether 
the first Chinese to penetrate to London would have 
fared better at the hands of the English populace had 
they ventured abroad in our streets. 

Leaving Yun-nan on January 8th, the travellers de- 
scended into the valley of the Li-tang Ho, which falls 
into the Blue River near Tong-Chuan, and passing 
through forest country reached the village of Kon-chang 
on the 14th. Here de Lagree was attacked by fever, and 
on the following day, when heights 7,800 feet above sea- 
level had to be scaled, he was so ill that it became neces- 
sary to carry him in a palanquin. Descending from this 
point to Tai-phu, the explorers followed the banks of 
the river for a short distance and then embarked in boats 
which carried them through desolate, woe-begone look- 
ing country to Tong-Chuan. De Lagree's condition had 
now become so critical that he was forced to abandon 
all idea of continuing his journey, and deciding to keep 
the doctor, Joubert, with him, he instructed the remainder 
of the party, under Garnier, to make an attempt to reach 
the Muhammadan stronghold of Ta-li-fu. 



246 FURTHER INDIA 

For this place a start was made on January 30th. 
On the following day the waters of the Kin-sha Kiang, 
the upper branch of the Yang-tse, were seen near their 
junction with the Li-tang Ho, 1,800 feet below the track 
cut in the mountain-side, and the explorers had the de- 
light of thinking that, since the days of Marco Polo, no 
white men had looked upon this river at a point so far 
distant from the coast. On February ist the Kin-sha 
Kiang was crossed by ferry, and the province of Se- 
Chuan was entered. The river was 200 yards in width, 
but owing to big rapids lower down it was still quite 
useless for purposes of navigation. Climbing heights on 
the farther bank to an altitude of 3,600 feet, the party 
made its way through mountainous country, amid fre- 
quent snow-storms, crossing the summit on February 3rd. 
Descending to Tzan-hi-pa the travellers found some 
native Christians, and leaving them, passed to Chang-chu, 
beyond which place the country becomes less wild and 
difficult. Thence they made their way to the plain on 
which Hui-lu-chu, an important trading centre, stands, 
and from there to Hong-pu-so, a visit being paid to the 
point where the Ya-long Kiang joins the Kin-sha at a 
distance of S}^ miles from the last named town. On 
February nth a young native priest, Pere Lu, who had 
been educated at the missionary college of Pulau Tikus 
near Penang, arrived at Hong-pu-so, and consented to 
accompany the party to Ma-chang. On the road thither 
some coal-mines were visited. Coal was the fuel in gen- 
eral use in this district, and the chimneys with which 
the houses were fitted struck the Europeans as objects at 
once familiar and unfamiliar. On February i6th the 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 247 

Yang-tse was crossed, and the night was passed in an 
isolated homestead 4,000 feet above sea-level. The coun- 
try, covered with pine forests, was sparsely inhabited, 
but the great step had been taken — the borders of the 
Muhammadan kingdom had been crossed. 

Switchbacking over hilly ground the explorers rejoined 
the direct track from Hong-pu-so to Ta-li-fu, which they 
had temporarily abandoned, and found a considerable 
traffic plying along it. The road led along the banks of 
the Pe-ma Ho, a considerable river, and here the flag of 
the insurgent Muhammadans was first seen. The valley 
of this river was quitted on February 20th, — mountains 
9,000 feet in height having to be scaled, — ^and a descent 
was made into the valley of the Pe-yen-tzin. Following 
a left influent ' of that stream, the explorers crossed 
another divide into the plain of Pin-Chuan, where the 
devastation of the country was even more deplorable than 
in any of the districts previously traversed, the only in- 
habited places being miserable huts which were fortified 
against attack. At Pin-Chuan an inn was found, and the 
letter from Lao Papa had its desired effect upon the local 
authorities, who made no attempt to detain the travellers. 
Another climb brought the party to Pien-kio, where an- 
other native priest, Pere Fang, also a Pulau Tikus man, 
was found. By his aid a letter was despatched to Pere 
Leguilcher, a French priest whose advice Garnier was 
anxious to obtain, and the morrow being Ash Wednesday, 
the explorers attended Mass and received the ashes upon 
their foreheads, with the reminder that " Man is dust, and 
unto dust he shall return." The fact was already patent 
to their imagination, for the country through which they 



248 FURTHER INDIA 

were now travelling held its own terrible record of suf- 
fering and death. It had been raided again and again 
by the " Whites," or rebel Muslims, and by the " Reds," 
or Imperialists, while the tribesmen of the hills, plun- 
dering on their own account, had completed the tale 
of ruin. 

The river which runs through the plain of Pien-kio 
was crossed by a fine stone bridge, and the same after- 
noon a summit, 9,000 feet in altitude, was climbed. 
From the top glimpses were caught of a few houses 
down below, surrounded by trees, and a cross surmount- 
ing one of the buildings showed that Pere Leguilcher's 
mission had been reached. This devoted man, who in 
the face of all dangers had remained at his post in the 
heart of the Muhammadan country, placed himself un- 
reservedly at the disposal of his countrymen, and con- 
sented to accompany them to Ta-li-fu. 

After a day's rest the descent was continued to Kuang- 
tia-pin, and when the hills which lie beyond this little 
town had been scaled, the lake of Ta-li was seen, its blue 
waters, surrounded by villages and gardens, with great 
snow-clad mountains for a background, making one of 
the most beautiful and impressive sights upon which 
the explorers had looked during the whole course of 
their wanderings. Ta-li-fu stands on the margin of 
the lake and is enclosed on all sides by mountains, the 
only practicable passes at each extremity of the valley 
being guarded by the fortified towns of Hiang-Kuan and 
Hia-Kuan respectively. A paved road runs along the 
whole length of the valley, and over this the Frenchmen 
tramped on March 2nd. A great uneasiness fell upon 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 249 

the native portion of the cortege as the capital was 
neared, and Pere Leguilcher's native Christians deserted 
one by one till not a single man remained. Ta-li-fu, how- 
ever, was reached without incident, and was entered by 
the northern gate. Immense crowds had gathered in the 
main street, and the strangers were met by two man- 
darins and conducted to a yamen which had been pre- 
pared for their accommodation. Formal visits were paid 
to Garnier, and all appeared to be going so well that he 
had high hopes of once more visiting the banks of the 
Mekong, when quite suddenly Pere Leguilcher was sent 
for by the Sultan, and was informed that the expedition 
must forthwith return by the way it had come. This 
was a terrible blow to Garnier, who attributed the abrupt 
change of attitude to the suspicions of the Sultan's mili- 
tary advisers. He also, quaintly enough, finds an addi- 
tional reason in the supposition that he and his fellows 
must have been mistaken for Englishmen ! The Muslim 
populations are in touch all the world over, he argues; 
those of India must of course hate Englishmen; there- 
fore the Muhammadans of Ta-li-fu must hate English- 
men. The Sultan of Ta-li-fu having behaved with brutal 
rudeness to a band of Frenchmen, it follows that the 
nationality of the latter cannot have been known, and 
that they must have been mistaken for Englishmen. To 
the average Frenchman, seemingly, there is nothing 
ridiculous in accusing our countrymen of " filling the 
butchers' shops with large, blue flies ! " 

For twenty-four hours, during which the ill-will of 
the authorities became momentarily more and more ap- 
parent. Gamier remained at Ta-li-fu, and it was only 



250 FURTHER INDIA 

after a bitter struggle that he abandoned all hopes of 
revisiting the valley of the Mekong. On March 4th he 
started back, passing rapidly through Hiang-kuan, and 
reaching Kuang-ti-pin after spending a night at Ma-cha. 
The authorities now evinced a disposition to persecute 
Pere Leguilcher, but Gamier supported the good priest 
with so brave a show of force that he was suffered to go 
his way unmolested to the mission station at Tu-tui-tze. 
His position, however, had now become untenable, and 
greatly to his own regret and that of his native Chris- 
tians, he was obliged to accompany Garnier out of the 
Muhammadan dominions. 

The journey to Ta-li-fu was unquestionably the most 
hazardous exploit undertaken by the explorers during 
the whole course of their travels, a fact which was 
recognised by the Royal Geographical Society when, in 
May, 1870, they conferred upon Francis Garnier the 
Patron's Medal. Garnier begged that this distinction 
should be divided between him and his late chief, de 
Lagree, but to this the Council would not consent, stating 
that such divisions were contrary to their rules, and add- 
ing that the medal was given more particularly for the 
journey to the Muhammadan capital. 

At Ta-li-fu the Tibetan element in the population was 
strongly marked ; pilgrimages from Tibet to the caves of 
The-Tong, to the south-east of Kuan-tia-pin, were made 
with frequency ; and prior to the troublous times of the 
Muhammadan rebellion, commercial intercourse with 
both Tibet and Burma had attained to considerable pro- 
portions. On the eastern borders of the lake, tribes 
known as Min-kin and Penti were met with, who are 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 2ji 

said to be the descendants of the original Chinese settled 
in the valley by Kublai Kaan. 

From Ma-chang Gamier and his party crossed the 
range to Kan-chu-tse, 7,500 feet above sea-level, whence 
they descended to Sen-o-kai. Leaving this place on 
March i8th they once more entered the valley of the 
upper Yang-tse, and reached Mong-ku on the 31st, after 
Thorel had paid a visit to the copper mines of Tsin-chui- 
ho. From Mong-ku the river was explored by Garnier, 
who found it too much obstructed by rapids to be navi- 
gable. On April 2nd a letter was received from Joubert 
conveying the sad news of the death of Doudart de 
Lagree on March 12th. The loss of the chief under 
whom all had been serving for nearly two years was a 
keen personal grief to every member of the expedition, 
and the tragedy of the event was deepened by the fact 
that death had come to him on the eve of the longed-for 
return to civilisation. De Lagree lacked, it is probable, 
the initiative and the geographical instinct of Francis 
Garnier, but in appointing him to the leadership the 
Government had made a wise selection. His mingled 
gentleness and firmness, combined with his great natural 
aptitude for dealing with Orientals, had contributed 
enormously to the success of the expedition, and his wis- 
dom and calm good sense placed a useful restraint upon 
the impetuosity of his ardent young lieutenant. At a 
later period the enemies of the latter were never weary 
of accusing Garnier of having filched from his dead chief 
the honour and glory of their common exploits, but 
nothing could be further from the truth. From first to 
last, in season and out of season, Garnier let no oppor- 



252 FURTHER INDIA 

tunity escape him of paying well-deserved tributes to the 
memory of the man who had been at once his leader and 
his friend. When the learned societies of Europe show- 
ered distinctions upon him, he pleaded, often with suc- 
cess, that they should be divided between himself and de 
Lagree's widow, and though he suffered cruelly from 
the calumnies spread concerning him, he never made the 
slightest attempt to defend himself at the expense of the 
dead. The fact remains, however, that the exploration 
of the Mekong was an idea of which Garnier was the 
originator ; that by far the greater part of the geograph- 
ical results obtained represented his individual work; 
and that the success of the expedition was due in great 
measure to his untiring energy and shrewd advice, while 
the dangerous journey to Ta-li-fu was made under his 
sole leadership. 

On April 5th the body of de Lagree, which had been 
buried at Tong-Chuan, was disinterred in order that it 
might be conveyed to Saigon, and a rude monument was 
erected on the spot where it had lain. On the 9th the 
Ngian-nan, a tributary of the Kin-sha, was crossed at 
Kiang-ti, and next day the plateau of Kiang-ti was 
reached. Thence the party passed to Chao-tung, and 
crossing some low hills, finally quitted the plateau of 
Yun-nan, descending into the hot, moist valley of the 
Yang-tse. The party embarked on a big boat at Lao- 
ua-tan, on April 20th, and after spending a day or two 
with Mgr. Ponsot, the Bishop of Yun-nan, at Long-ki, 
proceeded down river to Kieu-long-tan, where boats 
were engaged for the journey to Su-chau. At this place, 
reached on May 5th, two junks were hired, and on May 



SHAN STATES AND YUN-NAN 253 

27th the French Consulate at Han-kau was reached, and 
the remarkable journey was ended. 

An American steamer, the Plymouth Rock, conveyed 
the travellers to Shanghai, whence after a week's stay 
they left for Saigon, which was reached on June 29th, 
1868, after an absence of two years and twenty- four days. 

The exploration of the sources of the Mekong, the 
main object for the attainment of which the expedition 
had been organised, had not been effected, and the valley 
of that river had not been visited at any point above 
Chieng Hong, to which McLeod had attained in 1837. 
Similarly, the dream of a trade-route from Yun-nan to 
Saigon md the Mekong had proved to be no more than 
a dream. Thus far, therefore, the great expedition may 
be accounted to have failed, but on the other hand it 
could lay claim to some remarkable achievements. A 
detailed survey of the valley of the Mekong had been 
made from Pnom Penh to a point a day's march above 
the rapid of Tang He, and the river had been frequently 
visited between that place and Chieng Hong. Most of 
the large tributaries below Luang Prabang had been ex- 
plored in detail. A vast area in Laos and the Shan States, 
where no white man had hitherto set foot, had been care- 
fully examined ; China had been reached from the south ; 
much of Yun-nan had been explored and surveyed for 
the first time; and finally, in circumstances of great 
difficulty, Ta-li-fu had been visited. In addition to this 
much information had been collected concerning not only 
the geography, but the social, commercial and political 
condition, of the countries traversed. Facts bearing upon 
the history and upon the difficult ethnological problems 



254 FURTHER INDIA 

of this part of Asia had been assiduously noted and re- 
corded, the whole being subsequently embodied by Gar- 
nier in his elaborate Publication Oificielle. The expedition 
had the good fortune to be well received by the natives 
throughout almost the whole of its journey, a fact which 
was due in a measure to the tact of its members; but 
none the less the important results which it achieved 
were only obtained at the price of an immense amount 
of toil, of persistent effort, of suffering, and of patient 
endurance. Long months of exile in the wilderness, of 
complete severance from their kind, of privation and 
acute discomfort, never succeeded in disheartening the 
travellers, who, through so much individual sacrifice, 
were able to secure for France the honour of having 
penetrated, first of all the white nations, into the southern 
provinces of China by one of the great overland routes 
of south-eastern Asia. 



CHAPTER XI 

JOURNEYS OF EXPLORATION IN BURMA 

THE Burmese war of 1826 forced upon the atten- 
tion of the Government of India a recognition 
of the perilously scant measure of knowledge 
at its disposal concerning the topography of the country 
lying beyond its borders. The only part of upper Burma 
which at that time was known to Europeans was the 
Irawadi River from Rangoon and Bassein to Ava, over 
which so many British envoys had travelled on humili- 
ating embassies. Lieutenant Woods, who accompanied 
Symes to Ava in 1798, had made a survey of this part of 
the river, and Dr. Buchanan on the same occasion had 
collected a considerable amount of information relating 
to the districts traversed. Writing in 1835, Pemberton 
states that to the geographical and statistical facts ascer- 
tained by these officers no material addition had been 
made up to the time of the outbreak of the first Burmese 
war, and he mentions that the frontier officers had been 
blamed for this by the Government of India. It was 
forgotten that the attitude maintained by the British 
authorities in Calcutta towards the Court of Ava had 
fostered and flattered the natural arrogance of the Bur- 
mese; that the humiliations inflicted with impunity upon 
our envoys had brought us nothing but contempt; and 
that the Burmese frontier chiefs, sublimely conscious of 
their innate superiority to a mere white man, had reso- 



2s6 FURTHER INDIA 

lutely declined to permit our officers to acquaint them- 
selves with the districts beyond their jurisdiction. In 
these circumstances information gleaned from native 
sources — information of a notoriously inaccurate and 
unsatisfactory description — was the best that could be 
placed at the service of Sir Archibald Campbell when 
he assumed the command of our army in the field, and it 
is fortunate that the war was brought to a termination 
by the peace of Yandabu before the march upon Ava 
via Arakan, which he at one time contemplated, had been 
attempted. In the absence of all local knowledge such 
a venture might quite easily have ended in disaster, and 
realising this the Government of India determined to 
avoid having again to fight in the dark in this fashion — 
at any rate in so far as Burma was concerned. From 
this time forward, therefore, no opportunity of acquiring 
knowledge of the topography of Burma was suffered to 
escape, and the exploration of the country by English- 
men began in earnest. 

Major Burney, as we have seen, was appointed British 
Resident at Ava on December 31st, 1829. Travelling 
via Rangoon he reached his post in the following April. 
Even after the defeat which it had suffered and the loss 
of Tenasserim, the Court of Ava had not learned its 
lesson, and its arrogance was unabated. Burney suc- 
ceeded in obtaining his audience of the King on a day 
which was not a Kodau, or " beg-pardon day," and was 
the first of our envoys to do so and to avoid being 
paraded round the palace, bowing humbly to it, before 
gaining admittance to the presence chamber. None the 
less he was forced to unslipper at the entrance to the 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 257 

audience hall, and he owed it entirely to his own astute- 
ness and firmness that he escaped being the victim of 
numerous other impertinences. In spite of his inau- 
spicious beginning, Burney gradually won a considerable 
influence at the Court, and during the eight years that 
he resided at Ava the British were more free than ever 
before to come and go through the country under Bur- 
man jurisdiction. 

In August, 1830, Lieutenant Pemberton, who had been 
serving in Manipur, travelled overland to Ava, and in 
company with Burney succeeded in settling certain out- 
standing boundary disputes. He came over the moun- 
tains by the Akui route to Kindat, and so through the 
valley of the Chindwin, the great right tributary of the 
Irawadi, to the mouth of that river and thence to Ava, 
thus filling in a large blank upon the then existing map of 
north-western Burma. On January 20th of the following 
year Dr. Richardson left Ava, in obedience to instructions 
given to him by Burney, and made his way overland to 
Shwebo, then a town of less than 1,000 houses, sur- 
rounded by a dilapidated wall and a dry ditch, and con- 
taining a large pagoda and the ruins of a once royal 
palace. Shwebo, which lies some five and sixty miles 
to the north-west of Mandalay, is now the first station of 
importance on the railway line from that place to Katha. 
Richardson reached Shwebo on January 23rd, and thence 
went in a westerly direction to a small jungle village 
called Benthi, where the track turned abruptly to the 
north. The Chindwin, or Ningthi, River was struck at 
Thun-buk on January 28th, and Maukadau was reached 
on the following day. From this place the track lay 



1258 FURTHER INDIA 

through jungle, and after passing several villages of 
trifling importance, Kendat was reached on February 
2nd. Here Richardson was able to procure specimens of 
the lignite found in the vicinity, and he also heard of the 
amber mines of the Hukong valley, some " forty days up 
the Chindwin from Kendat," which were subsequently 
visited by Captain Hannay. At Kendat Richardson was 
joined by Captain Grant, who had come thither from 
Manipur. His journey was the first made by a white 
man over the Angochin hills and along the banks of the 
Chindwin from Mulfu to Kendat, and supplemented the 
geographical information collected by Pemberton during 
his trip from Manipur to Ava in the preceding year. 

In a valuable report furnished by the latter officer to 
the Government of India in 1835, a detailed account is 
given of the whole of the eastern frontier of India as it 
then was. Pemberton begins by describing from personal 
observation the mountain system to the north and east 
of Manipur, and gives details of three routes from that 
State into Burma territory, — those by Akui, by Kala 
Naga, and through the Koki villages. He next, still as 
the result of personal exploration, gives a detailed ac- 
count of Arakan and of its communications with Chitta- 
gong, passing on to a description of the footpaths over 
the Yoma mountains from Arakan into Burma. The 
best of these was that by the Aeng Pass, first traversed 
by Captain David Ross with a small military force in 
March, 1826. In 1830 this route was explored to the 
summit from the Arakan side by Captain White, and in 
September of the same year Pemberton travelled by river 
from Ava to Mimbu, on the right bank of the Irawadi, 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 159 

and thence tramped to Aeng, whence he crossed the 
range into Arakan. In March of the following year, 
accompanied by Captain Jenkins, he examined this pass 
in detail and reported upon it to the Government of 
India. Pemberton was thus able to furnish an exact 
account of the Indian borders from Assam and Manipur 
to Arakan, and of the routes leading therefrom into 
Burma, all of which was mainly the result of his own 
explorations; further, in the same report, he attempts 
some description of the country lying between India, 
Burma, and Yun-nan, collected from native sources. 

In 1835-36 Captain S. F. Hannay made an important 
journey from Ava to the Hukong valley. The occasion 
for this was furnished by a dispute between the chiefs 
of two tribes of Singfos which had led to a raid, headed 
by one Dupha Gam, into which a Burmese commission 
was appointed to inquire. Burney seized the opportu- 
nity to send an officer with this commission, and Hannay 
accordingly left Ava by river in November, 1835. Up 
to this time the valley of the Irawadi above Ava had 
been completely unknown to Europeans. In the seven- 
teenth century the British certainly, and possibly also the 
Dutch, had had a factory at Bhamo, but that was not 
the age of exact survey or precise information, and 
though the name of the place was familiarly known to 
Europeans from that time forward, it was virgin soil for 
the explorer when Hannay visited it. 

Owing to the existence of a practical monopoly of the 
trade with the upper districts of the Irawadi, which was 
held by the Chinese traders in Ava, no foreigner, and 
only Burmese who had obtained special authorisation, 



26o FURTHER INDIA 

were permitted to ascend the river above the Choki of 
Tsampaynago, wherefore when Hannay passed above 
this point he entered country which had long been closed 
to all save the natives inhabiting it and a very few men 
from districts farther south. At Yedan the first " kiuk- 
dwen," or rocky defile, was entered. Below it the river 
varied in breadth from a mile to two and a half miles ; 
in the defile itself the river narrowed down and in places 
was not more than 150 yards from bank to bank. Great 
bamboo rafts, similar to those observed by Garnier in 
Laos, were here met with, their freight consisting of 
pickled tea. The defile was entered on November 30th, 
eight days after leaving Ava, and the water, which at- 
tained a great depth, was described by Hannay as being 
" almost as still as a lake." Tsampaynago was reached 
on December ist, and here the direction of the famous 
ruby mines was pointed out to the traveller, who judged 
them to lie some thirty or forty miles away behind a 
conspicuous peak called Shueu Tung. At Tagaung Myu, 
reached four days later, Hannay found the crumbling 
remains of walls, all that was left of the city said to 
have been founded by a king from western India, whose 
descendants afterwards founded kingdoms at Prome, 
Pagan and Ava. The old fort of Tagaung had been 
built of brick, and what could still be seen of it con- 
vinced Hannay that its architecture was peculiar and 
was distinct from that of the Burmese. A mile to the 
south Hannay reported the existence of the extensive 
ruins of Pagan, which he described as stretching away 
" as far as the eye can see." It was in this neighbour- 
hood that teak trees first began to appear on the banks 




Q 

CO ^ 



p^ 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 261 

of the river. From Tagaung Hannay also took a cross- 
bearing to the ruby mines, which he placed some 45 or 
50 miles to the east of his point of observation. 

At Yebuk Yua boats bringing Chinese merchants from 
Bhamo were passed, and on December 13th Katha was 
reached. The river here ran between high banks which 
were about a quarter of a mile apart, and Hannay esti- 
mated its volume and velocity at 52,272 cubic feet per 
second, which would be about two-thirds of that of the 
Ganges at the same season. Katha was at this time a 
town of only some 400 houses, that is to say about 2,000 
souls. By December 17th the traveller had entered the 
great curve of the Irawadi from east to west which leads 
from Bhamo to Katha, and soon the increasing number 
of villages upon the river's' banks showed that the neigh- 
bourhood of the former town was reached. The island 
of Kywundo, upon which stand a hundred pagodas, was 
passed just below the entrance to the second kiuk-dwen, 
a defile which is pent between hills averaging some 400 
feet in height ; in one place where the height is 500 feet, 
the side of the defile is described as being " as perpen- 
dicular as a wall." This defile is some four miles in 
length, and the cliffs on either hand are composed of 
sandstone upon a base of blue limestone veined in places 
by streaks of white marble. 

On December 20th Kungtun was reached, and here 
Hannay met people of the " wild '' tribe called Kakhyens 
who belong to a type which is clearly not Tatar, and 
nearly resembles that of the Caucasian races. The next 
day the traveller arrived at Bhamo itself, the " largest 
place in Burma except Ava and Rangoon," consisting at 



262 FURTHER INDIA 

the time of Hannay's visit of about 1,500 houses, or 2,000 
including its immediate environs, and having a popu- 
lation of some 9,000 souls. The Chinese quarter was 
composed of 200 houses, and from the Chinese traders 
Hannay obtained some valuable information concerning 
the passes from Bhamo into Yun-nan. The best route 
lay, as does the highway now in use, up the valley of the 
Ta-ping River to Ta-li-fu via Yung-Chang, the river 
itself being crossed by a ferry. Geographers had for a 
long time been of opinion that the Ta-ping was identical 
with the Tsangpo, the course of which after its disap- 
pearance in Tibet was then not known. The information 
which Hannay collected concerning the size of the Ta- 
ping, and the fact that it falls into the Irawadi on the 
left bank of that river, disposed once for all of this 
opinion, the Tsangpo being, as a matter of fact, the 
name borne in its uppermost reaches by the Brahma- 
putra. None the less, the identity of the Tsangpo with 
the upper course of the Irawadi was advanced by Mgr. 
de Mazure, Vicar Apostolic of Tibet, and received a 
qualified endorsement from Yule, as late as 1861. 

After leaving Bhamo Hannay found the country 
through which the Irawadi ran far more hilly than any 
hitherto traversed. The third defile was entered at 
Thaphan Beng, and here the river was sometimes not 
more than eighty yards across. At a village above this 
defile a new tribe of " wild " folk was met with — the 
Phwongs — who built their long houses on piles and 
placed the thatch upon the roofs in such a fashion that 
it nearly touched the ground on either side. On Decem- 
ber 26th the part of the Irawadi in which navigation 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 263 

becomes most dangerous was reached, the stream being 
beset with rapids and the country around showing obvi- 
ous traces of volcanic disturbance. At Tshenbo, a point 
some ten miles below the mouth of the Mogaung River, 
the boats which had brought the party from Ava were 
exchanged for others of smaller size and more shallow 
draught, but it is noticeable that as far as this, that is to 
say some 400 miles above Ava, the Irawadi had been 
proved to be navigable for large native boats. 

The mouth of the Mogaung was reached on December 
31st, exactly 40 days after the start from Ava, and Han- 
nay fixed the latitude of this point by astronomical 
observation at 24° 56' 53", which, however, puts it in a 
position somewhat more to the south than that which it 
really occupies. He here quitted the Irawadi, which he 
described as " still a fine river a mile broad," flowing at 
the rate of about two miles an hour and having a depth 
of from two to three fathoms. 

The Mogaung River, which Hannay now entered, was 
found to be barely 100 yards in width, its bed much im- 
peded by rapids, its banks smothered in dense jungle. 
Above the village of Tapoh, the rapids having been passed, 
the river widened out to about 200 yards in breadth, and 
on January 5th, after five and forty days of almost unin- 
terrupted travelling, Hannay reached Mogaung. This 
place, situated at the junction of the Nam Yun and Nam 
Yong Rivers with the Nam Kong, or Mogaung River, 
was found to be a town of some 300 houses, containing 
a population of about 1,500 souls. It is to-day the ter- 
minus of the railway from Katha, which is still under 
construction. At the time of Hannay's visit it was de- 



264 FURTHER INDIA 

fended from attack from the lawless tribes in its vicinity 
by a timber stockade. 

At Mogaung Hannay was forced to wait for several 
days before he was able to start upon his projected trip 
to the amber mines of the Hukong valley, but on Janu- 
ary 19th some of the escort crossed the river and sacri- 
ficed a buffalo to the Ngatgyi, or spirits of the " Three 
Brother Tsanhuas," at that time a necessary preliminary 
ceremony without which no expedition could march from 
the town. Three days later a start was made, and for 
two days the travellers trudged through hilly country, 
the way leading amid defiles through the spurs of the 
Shuedung Gyi range on the east and irregular broken 
country on the west. On January 30th a descent into 
the Hukong valley was made, the valley itself being, in 
Hannay 's opinion, the ancient bed of an Alpine lake, its 
greatest length from north to north-east being about 50 
miles, its width varying from 15 to 45 miles. The Chind- 
win River, the lower portion of which had already been 
explored by Pemberton in his journey from Manipur, and 
by Richardson and Grant, ran through this valley, and 
the district was peopled by Singfos and their Assamese 
slaves, one Shan colony being established at a village 
called Meingkhwon. Salt and gold were found in the 
valley, but the only traffic of importance was in amber 
which the Singfos worked and sold to the Chinese. 

Hannay obtained some information concerning the 
routes from this valley to eastern Singfo, one being 
through a pass in the Shuedung Gyi range, another 
round the base of the Lye-guepbhum mountain. From 
Meingkhwon he located a hill, distant some 25 miles 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 265 

from that place and lying 35° to the west, as the source 
of the Uru River, one of the principal tributaries of the 
Chindwin or Ningthi. On March 21st he visited the 
amber mines, but saw no amber of any value, the miners 
having prudently hidden any that they possessed through 
fear of the Burmese who accompanied him. Later he 
made a trip to the banks of the Chindwin at a point five 
miles north of Meingkhwon, and found the river meas- 
uring three hundred yards from bank to bank. On April 
1 2th he returned to Mogaung. Here he obtained infor- 
mation concerning the serpentine mines which lay some 
two days' journey above Mogaung, and learned that 
about 1,000 men were at work in them. He had no 
opportunity, however, of visiting these mines, as he im- 
mediately afterwards started for Ava, where he arrived 
on May ist, having accomplished the journey from 
Meingkhwon, including the trudge across the hills to 
Mogaung, in eighteen days. 

Hannay's achievement was of considerable importance, 
because the Irawadi from Ava to Bhamo and the mouth 
of the Mogaung had now been explored by him for 
the first time, no accurate record of its course having 
been left by the European traders of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. Through him, too, Bhamo had become something 
more than a name to the geographers of Europe. He 
had further visited and determined the position of the 
Hukong valley and its amber mines, and had fixed with 
a fair approximation to accuracy the latitudes of all the 
principal towns of the Irawadi valley between Ava and 
Meingkhwon. In addition to this he had added a great 
deal of information to the knowledge then possessed of 



266 FURTHER INDIA 

the course of the Chindwin River, filling in blanks which 
had been left by Wilcox working on the Assam boundary, 
and by Pemberton in his journeys from Manipur, though 
he had not actually cut the routes of either of these 
officers. The information which he brought back con- 
cerning the Ta-ping River also disposed of the attempts 
which had been made to identify it with the Tsangpo 
of Tibet, and his account of the Irawadi rendered the 
hypothesis that the Tsangpo was a continuation of the 
Irawadi very improbable, though the identification of the 
Tibetan river with the Brahmaputra was not made until 
more than thirty years later. 

In March of 1837, the year after that in which Han- 
nay's journey was made, Griffiths crossed the Naga hills 
from Assam and visited the Hukong valley, thus joining 
up Wilcox's explorations and those of the explorer whose 
travels we have just been following. Wilcox, whose 
work lies beyond the scope of our inquiry, had been 
employed from 1825 to 1828 in making a survey for the 
Indian Government of the country of Assam and its 
neighbouring States, and had succeeded in the course of 
his work in determining the western sources of the Ira- 
wadi. Between December, 1836, and May, 1837, the 
journey from Ava to the frontiers of Assam was made 
by Dr. G. T. Bayfield, who returned to the capital in the 
latter month. Bumey had taken the opportunity of 
attaching him to a Burmese commission which was being 
sent from Ava to Assam, and he travelled over the same 
route as that followed by Hannay as far as Meingkhwon. 
From this point he travelled north-west to Lamung, and 
at Maguegun effected a meeting with Hannay and Grif- 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 267 

fiths, who had come across the hills from Assam and 
who returned with him to Ava. 

Meanwhile, British explorers were also busy farther 
to the south and east. On December nth, 1829, Dr. 
Richardson left Maulmain on his first journey to Chieng 
Mai, the important town at the head of the valley of the 
Menam. He ascended the Salwin to the mouth of the 
Yam Byne, which he reached on December 14th, and 
landing here made his way across hills into the valley 
of the Me Gnau and thence into that of the Mein-lung- 
hi, both of which streams belong to the drainage-area 
of the Salwin. The frontier station of Mein-lung-hi, 
near the junction of the stream of that name with the 
Thung-yin, was at this time an important place, since 
all traders from Maulmain and the Shan States en route 
for the Karin country passed through it. Richardson 
reached this place on January ist, 1830, and did not 
resume his march until the 6th. On the loth, after 
climbing over a huddle of hills for four days, he at last 
sighted the Me-ping River, the great western branch of 
the Menam upon which Chieng Mai is situated. The 
next day the descent into the valley of the Me-ping was 
made, the river being struck at Muong Haut, or Muong 
Hal, where the Me-ping measures 747 feet in width. 
The country traversed between the Salwin and the Me- 
ping was described by Richardson as " one succession of 
mountains; nearly all of the primitive series, principally 
gneiss, trap, lime and sandstone." The inhabitants of 
these hills were mostly Karins, and the population was 
sparse and scattered. From Muong Haut Richardson 
ascended the valley of the Me-ping, passing over level 



268 FURTHER INDIA 

country and grassy plains, until on January 15th he 
reached Labong, or Lampun. He was not permitted, 
however, to proceed to Chieng Mai, and after remaining 
nearly a month at Labong, where he contrived to estab- 
lish very friendly relations with the Laos Governor, he 
began his return journey on February 9th. On his way 
back he struck south from Yembing to the Gyne River, 
and returned to Maulmain in boats, arriving at his jour- 
ney's end on March loth. 

In 1834 Dr. Richardson was again despatched on a 
mission to Chieng Mai, the object of which was to in- 
quire into the causes of the cessation of the cattle trade 
between the Shan States and Maulmain. He left the 
latter place on March 6th, and followed the route which 
he had passed over in 1829-30 as far as Labong, where 
he arrived on April ist. On April 15th, having at last 
procured permission to visit Chieng Mai, he left Labong 
and reached his destination after a march of five and a 
half hours. He remained at Chieng Mai till April 24th, 
when he once more returned to Labong. On April 29th 
he started on his return journey to Maulmain, where he 
arrived by his old route on May 21st. The rainy season 
had begun before he left Labong, and the march had to 
be made through an incessant downpour which greatly 
tried the endurance of the party. 

So far as can be ascertained, Dr. Richardson was the 
first European to visit Chieng Mai from the Bay of 
Bengal, though the unhappy trader Samuel, who was 
carried off to Ava from that town in 1 618, as has already 
been related, may possibly have traversed the route fol- 
lowed by Richardson as far as Mein-lung-hi on his com- 




o 

a 

pq 

M-l 
O 

o 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 269 

pulsory journey to the Burmese capital. Richardson's 
main object in these two journeys, and in the third which 
he made to Chieng Mai in 1834-35, was the estabHsh- 
ment of trade between the Shan States and the newly 
acquired British territories of lower Burma. Concern- 
ing the condition of the districts traversed he brought 
back a great deal of valuable information, and he also 
collected a considerable amount of geographical data 
concerning a hitherto unexplored region. In the Decem- 
ber following his return to Maulmain he again started 
for Chieng Mai, travelling by the now familiar route via 
Mein-lung-hi and Labong, and on his arrival on January 
26th, 1835, he had the good fortune to meet a big caravan 
from China, consisting of some 200 mules and pack- 
horses, while a second still larger caravan was reported 
to be at Muong Nan. The information which he col- 
lected from these Chinese merchants on the subject of 
the trade-route to Yun-nan via Chieng Tong and Chieng 
Hong on the Mekong, led directly to McLeod's being 
entrusted with the mission to which we have already 
referred. On this journey, too, Richardson visited La- 
kon, a town on the Me-wang, the great left influent of 
the Me-ping, this being the first occasion upon which the 
place had been visited by a white man from the Burmese 
side. From Lakon he returned to Labong, which he left 
on March 25th, reaching Mein-lung-hi on the last day 
of that month. From this point he passed through mag- 
nificent teak forests towards the Salwin, crossing the 
divide on April 5th, and striking the great river at 
Banong on the 9th. The Salwin was here found to be 
400 yards in width, running rapidly through a narrow 



270 FURTHER INDIA 

valley. Crossing the river, Richardson penetrated into 
the Karin country as far as Dwom Tulve, and was fairly 
well received by the Karins, the almost barbarous hill- 
men who had contrived to maintain their independence 
and whose predatory raids in search of Shan slaves were 
at this time the terror of the little States owing allegiance 
to Ava. After spending nearly a month at Dwom Tulve, 
Richardson returned by his original route to Mein-lung- 
hi, and thence made his way down to Maulmain by the 
trade-track over which he had now so often passed. 

In December, 1836, Richardson again left Maulmain, 
this time in company with McLeod, and proceeded up 
the Gyne River. On the fourth day the travellers landed 
at the last village in British territory, and thence pro- 
ceeded on elephant-back, crossing the boundary between 
British and Siamese territory on December 25th, twelve 
days after their departure from Maulmain. Next day 
McLeod branched off, following a track to Chieng Mai 
somewhat to the south of the route by which Richardson 
had reached that place; from Chieng Mai he hoped to 
enter China via Chieng Tong and Chieng Hong. With 
the details of McLeod's journey we are already ac- 
quainted. Richardson, having other plans, went on to 
Mein-lung-hi, where he arrived on New Year's Day, 
1837, ^^^ which he left on 6th January. The Mein- 
lung-hi being too deep to ford at this season of the year, 
he departed by a route which is only used during the 
monsoon. This passed through uninhabited country, 
and brought him to the Salwin in 18° 16' N. Lat. on 
January i6th. Having crossed the river, Richardson 
made his way as before to Dwom Tulve in the Karin 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 271 

country, where he arranged with the Pha Pho, the 
Chief of the hillmen, to grant him a free passage 
through the Karin territory. On February 6th he again 
started, journeying through country which had never 
before been traversed by a white man. The first two 
days led through mountains, and the country next en- 
tered was found to be hilly and treeless, but very care- 
fully and completely cultivated. Seven days' steady 
marching through this hilly region brought Richardson 
from Dwom Tulve to Ka-du-gyi, the first Burmese vil- 
lage on the Ava side: the country of the Red Karins 
had at last been traversed by a white man. It was dis- 
covered to be at once more extensive and more thickly 
populated than had hitherto been suspected, but of the 
trade of the district Richardson entertained no very 
great hopes. Tin and stick-lac were both obtained in 
abundance, but the one was too heavy, the other too 
bulky, to be exported with ease, with the means of 
transport then available. Moreover, the Red Karins 
" entertained the most rancorous enmity to the Bur- 
mans," and the people — with whom, however, Richard- 
son had established good relations — were little removed 
from savagery. 

" Theirs," he writes, " is the first and rudest stage of 
an agricultural population; their habitations are miser- 
able and destitute of everything that conduces to the 
comfort of human beings, to which they are scarcely 
allowed by the Burmans to belong. Nearly all their 
present limited wants are supplied within themselves. 
They only traffic in stick-lac which is produced in great 
quantities, and slaves which they capture from the Shan 



272 FURTHER INDIA 

villages subject to the Burmans lying along their fron- 
tier. From three hundred to four hundred are annually- 
bartered with the Siamese Shans for black cattle, buffa- 
loes, salt and betel-nut." 

On February 13th Richardson reached Kudu, on the 
borders of Karini and Burma, and continuing his jour- 
ney on the 15th, he three days later reached Mok-mai, a 
stockaded town of 300 or 350 houses, where his appear- 
ance was greeted by riotous and insulting crowds of 
sightseers. The superior civilisation of the Shans, as 
compared with their Karin neighbours, did not manifest 
itself in improved manners or in a power to curb their 
curiosity. 

On February 20th Richardson left Mok-mai for Monai, 
another Shan State under the rule of Ava. The first day's 
march brought him to Lome, the first place met with that 
" considered itself fairly safe from the forays of the 
Kareens, which they compare to the swoop of a hawk." 
Even at Mok-mai the natives did not dare to wander far 
from their stockade, so lawless and ubiquitous were the 
hill slave-traders, and so utterly inefficient the Burmese 
Government whose duty it was to protect its subjects. 
At Monai Richardson was detained 42 days, awaiting 
the authorisation to proceed which Burney was trying to 
obtain for him at the Court of Ava ; but on April 6th a 
start was made, Hai-pek being reached on the following 
day. Thence the track led through hilly and undulating 
country where the soil was exceedingly poor, and on 
April 1 6th news of the revolution at Ava, whereby 
Tharawadi made himself master of Burma, reached the 
travellers. On the morrow the escort from Monai beat 




p^ 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 273 

a hasty retreat, having no desire to get nearer to the 
scene of trouble, but Richardson pushed on to Neaung 
Shewai, where he spent an anxious month of inactivity. 
On May 13th, however, he received orders to proceed to 
Ava, which had been procured for him by Burney, and 
on the 1 8th he resumed his march. He made his way 
across the mountains, descending the Nat Tike pass — 
" the longest and most laborious pass in the Burmese 
dominions " — into the valley of the Irawadi. Here he 
found himself on a great plain called the Lap-dau, or 
royal elds, which extends to the hills east and north of 
Mandalay and away to the mountains of the Manipuri 
frontier. Four days' trudge across this plain brought 
Richardson, on May 28th, to the British Residency at 
Ava. His was the first journey ever made by a Euro- 
pean from Maulmain to Mandalay, and in the course of 
it he had explored the hitherto unknown country of the 
Karins, and the Shan States lying between that country 
and Ava. Richardson's journey served to link up the 
British possessions in lower Burma with the region ex- 
plored under Burney 's auspices farther to the north and 
west. At the same time McLeod's journey had added 
to the map many details of the eastern Shan States be- 
tween the Salwin and the Mekong. 

In December, 1838, Richardson once more left Maul- 
main upon one of his venturesome journeys, travelling 
this time on elephants over the main range of mountains 
which divides Tenasserim from Siam, and making his 
way to Bangkok via Kanburi on the Me-klong River. 
This journey will be described more fully in the chapter 
which deals with the exploration of Siam. It was the 



a74 FURTHER INDIA 

last of a series of remarkable explorations, many of which 
had been made by Richardson himself, which were under- 
taken during the decade following Burney's appointment 
to the post of British Resident at Ava. The Burmese 
revolution of 1837 led to the withdrawal of our Resident, 
and from that time until the war of 1852 little official 
intercourse was held with Ava, and the work of explora- 
tion necessarily ceased for a space. After the war Major 
Arthur Phayre, who had been appointed Governor of 
Pegu, the province annexed by Great Britain, was sent 
to Ava on an embassy in 1855, and Captain Henry Yule 
— afterwards so well known as Colonel Sir Henry Yule, 
the Orientalist and the editor of the Book of Messer 
Marco Polo — accompanied the party and acted as its 
chronicler. Yule's own contributions to the study of 
Burmese history and topography are considerable, though 
they represented comparatively little in the nature of 
original research, most of his information having been 
collected by others. In 1856, however, he devoted him- 
self to the production of a map of Burma, in so far as 
the country was then known to Europeans, and pub- 
lished it in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 
with a long commentary from his own pen. This map 
embodied the results of all the explorations with which 
we have already dealt, and further profited by the sur- 
veys made by Captain Rennie and Lieutenant Heath- 
cote, who also had accompanied Phayre on his mission 
to Ava in the preceding year. In Burma proper below 
Ava, the interior towns and districts. Yule tells us, had 
been filled in from native information by Major Grant 
Allen of the Madras Army, and this part of the map 




Gunn & Co., Limited, Richmond 

Colonel Sir H. Yule, K.C.S.I., C.B. 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 275 

was, therefore, confessedly inaccurate. For the rest the 
country lying between the Salwin and the Me-ping Riv- 
ers is blank, as also is the large tract north of Chieng 
Mai and south of the Salwin valley. Similar blanks 
occur between Tungu and Yemethin, points which to-day 
are joined to one another by a line of railway leading 
from Rangoon to Mandalay ; between the Arakan Yoma 
range and the Chindwin River ; and again in the northern 
districts between the Chindwin and the Irawadi. This 
map, however, in spite of all its deficiencies, was in 1856 
by far the best that had ever been put together of these 
regions, and a glance at the copy of it here reproduced 
will show the reader how substantial was the progress 
which had been made during the period that elapsed be- 
tween the first and second Burmese wars. 

By the peace concluded at the end of 1852, not only 
had Pegu been ceded to Great Britain, Rangoon becom- 
ing from that time forward the capital of British or 
lower Burma, but agencies were opened at Ava and 
Tungu. The territory ceded after the war of 1826 had 
already been surveyed by the British Government with 
more or less detail and accuracy, while Richardson had 
not only explored the main range between Tenasserim 
and the Me-klong valley in 1838-39, as has already been 
mentioned, but in company with Captain G. B. Tremen- 
heere had walked across the Isthmus of Kra from Pak- 
chan to Chimpohun, within a few miles of the coast of 
the Gulf of Siam. Tremenheere, who drew up a report 
on this trip, which was undertaken in 1843, considered 
that the Kra canal scheme, of which since that date so 
much has from time to time been heard, was " reasonably 



276 FURTHER INDIA 

practicable/' the difference of level never exceeding 450 
feet, and a rough estimate for a canal 100 feet wide of 
rectangular shape giving 3,556,640,000 solid feet of ex- 
cavation. In 1856, by which time the surveys of Pegu 
were fairly advanced, Mr. Edward O'Riley was sent 
from Tungu to look for a trace across the Panglong, or 
Pegu Yoma, range into the Karin country, and crossing 
these mountains made his way to Ngwai Tung and Nung 
Belai, two important Karin villages in the heart of the 
hills peopled by these tribesmen. He returned to Maul- 
main by the trade-route which had already been famil- 
iarised by the explorations of Richardson, and thence 
made his way back to Tungu by the To-lo-hi villages. 
He estimated the Karin population of the Pegu Yoma 
range at between 55,000 and 60,000 souls; he was able 
to determine the altitudes of several peaks and passes, 
and his surveys formed a considerable addition to our 
knowledge of the Karin country. 

But much the most interesting journey of explora- 
tion undertaken in the neighbourhood of Burma, dur- 
ing the period between the war of 1852 and that of 
1855, was that of Captain Sladen, and its story is told 
by the leader of the expedition with an amount of 
humour, good temper, and high spirits, which presents 
a great contrast to the dry-as-dust records of travel 
which reach us from most of our British explorers in this 
region. Sladen's objective was Ta-li-fu, the capital of 
the rebel Muhammadan Sultan in Yun-nan, which Gar- 
nier succeeded in visiting from Tong-Chuan in March, 
1868. The object of the mission was to re-establish the 
trade between Burma and Yun-nan, which had long been 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 277 

interrupted owing to the protracted disturbances in the 
latter province. A start was made from Mandalay on 
January 13th, 1868. The journey from that place to 
Bhamo was only remarkable because it was performed 
for the first time in a shallow-draught steamer, the prop- 
erty of the King of Burma, and was accomplished with- 
out difficulty by January 21st. The Irawadi above Man- 
dalay was thus proved to be navigable for steam-vessels 
of this description as high up its course as Bhamo, and 
Captain Bowers, who accompanied Sladen, was the first 
to make a chart of its bed between these two points. 

The expedition had been launched with the consent 
and approval of the Burmese King, but from the outset, 
after his arrival at Bhamo, Sladen found that the influ- 
ence of native officialism was being used in every in- 
sidious way that could suggest itself to frustrate his 
plans. The way from Bhamo into the provinces of west- 
em China led necessarily through the hills peopled by 
Kakhyen tribesmen, beyond whose country lay a fringe 
of Chinese Shan States. The first step, therefore, was 
to obtain the co-operation and goodwill of the Kakhyen 
chiefs ; but the Burmese officers at Bhamo did their best 
to prevent these gentry from visiting Sladen, and it was 
not until January 31st that the chief of Ponlyne at last 
came in. 

" Half Burman, half Chinese, as regarded his exter- 
nals, the hang-dog expression of his countenance (dif- 
ferent in every respect from the Kakhyen type, or from 
any type I had ever seen) was an ugly feature in the 
proceedings, which did not augur well for the results of 
our proposed conference," writes Sladen. 



278 FURTHER INDIA 

Torn in twain by his dread of incurring the anger of 
the Burmese on the one hand, and his reluctance to let 
so excellent an opportunity of enriching himself escape 
him on the other, this man temporised and procrasti- 
nated, but at last promised to procure the necessary mule 
transport, and to convey Sladen and his party as far 
as Manwyne, the first Shan town on the Yun-nan side 
of the hills. This pledge, it subsequently transpired, was 
only given with a view to getting the expedition into 
the hills where it could be plundered at leisure, the Bur- 
mese officials and the Chinese traders at Bhamo, who 
regarded with extreme disapproval any attempt to in- 
fringe their monopoly of commerce with Yun-nan, see- 
ing in this device the most convenient way of putting 
an end to a troublesome business. 

On February 26th Sladen at last shook the dust of 
Bhamo from off his feet, and marched to a point on the 
banks of the Ta-ping River at which the mules collected 
by the Kakhyen chief of Ponlyne were in waiting to 
convey the party into the hills. Immense difficulty was 
experienced with the mule-drivers, each of whom was 
" a sort of irresponsible agent, demanding separate recog- 
nition in all that related to the hire and use of his par- 
ticular property." Most of the Kakhyens, chiefs and 
peasants, were drunk, " but this," said Sladen cheerfully, 
" seemed to be of no consequence, as drunkenness is the 
normal condition of Kakhyens when on duty, and is not 
regarded by them as any real interruption to love or 
business." Owing to these and other difficulties the ex- 
pedition did not get away from Sitkaw, the village where 
the mules had been met, until 2 p.m. on March 2nd, Pon- 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 279 

lyne village being reached at dusk. From this point 
Sladen succeeded in pushing on to the village of Pon-si, 
but here he was deserted by his mules and mule-men, 
the latter not even waiting to receive the hire that was 
due to them. At a subsequent date Sladen learned that 
the mule-men had been told from the first that as soon 
as the expedition was trapped in the hills it would be set 
upon by the tribesmen, when all who had aided would 
receive a share of the spoil. Relying upon this arrange- 
ment they did not wait to receive their hire, but deserted 
hastily, so that the fighting which was to enrich them 
might begin with as little delay as possible. 

During its long sojourn at Pon-si the party was un- 
questionably in a position of great danger. Sladen could 
neither move forward nor retreat; he refused absolutely 
to pay the blackmail which was repeatedly demanded by 
Ponlyne and the other Kakhyen chiefs; and he owed it 
only to his own calm temper, resource, and to the bold 
face which he consistently presented to his persecutors, 
that he was at length able to extricate his party from 
so critical a situation. His great stroke of policy was 
the opening up of direct communications with the " Pan- 
thai," as he called the rebel Muhammadan authorities in 
Yun-nan, and as soon as the Kakhyen chiefs learned that 
he had stolen this march upon them, their whole attitude 
towards the Englishmen changed. The rebels were more 
feared than the Burmans, and the travellers had dis- 
played a considerable ability to take care of themselves 
and to make friends with the rank and file of the tribes- 
men, who were further much impressed by the fact that 
Sladen's escort possessed guns which would actually go 



28o FURTHER INDIA 

off! Accordingly when it was made known that the 
Muhammadan Government was favourable to the ad- 
vance of the expedition, difficulties vanished like smoke. 
The Muhammadan Governor of Mo-mein, however, 
urged Sladen to remain at Pon-si for the present, this 
official having determined to dislodge the Chinese robber 
chief, Lis-hi-ta-hi, who held a position commanding the 
line of march and had been honourably received by the 
King of Burma when he paid a visit to Ava. Mau-phu 
was the name of the place occupied by this ruffian and 
his followers, and the Muhammadans presently attacked 
and took it with considerable slaughter, thus clearing the 
way for the British expedition. Captain Williams, the 
engineer of Sladen's party, unfortunately elected to re- 
turn from Pon-si to Burma, a decision which robbed the 
expedition of some of the detailed topographical results 
which it might otherwise have obtained, but Sladen and 
the officers who remained with him left Pon-si on May 
nth, and resumed their long-interrupted march through 
the Kakhyen hills. The Shan town of Manwyne was 
reached the same day, and on May 14th the party moved 
on again to Sanda. On the way the expedition, which 
had already been the object of futile demonstrations of 
hostility between Sitkaw and Pon-si, was treated to an- 
other exhibition of the kind, an armed band of wildly 
gesticulating Shans keeping parallel with the travellers on 
the opposite bank of the Ta-ping River, and even firing 
a few shots over their heads. The object of this farce, 
though it was doubtless connected with an attempt to 
" save the face " of some robber chieftain, was never 
satisfactorily explained, but the Shans who were accom- 




Burman Family Group 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA a8i 

panying Sladen treated the demonstration as something 
of no account, as indeed it proved to be. On their own 
side of the Ta-ping the travellers were received with 
open arms by the natives, who looked forward to the 
re-establishment of trade between Yun-nan and Burma 
with the keenest expectation. After their long captivity 
at Pon-si — for indeed their sojourn there deserved no 
other name — the delight of the travellers at finding them- 
selves upon the march again was great, and this was 
enhanced not only by the kindliness of the welcome 
afforded to them, but also by the magnificence of the 
country through which they were journeying. 

" The monotonous grandeur of this endless valley," 
writes Sladen, " with its sublime ridges towering up on 
either side to a height of 5,000 feet, and running in 
straight parallels into boundless space, was in itself a 
source of infinite admiration. But to this estimate of 
its interest and sublimity I may add the fact that the 
valley area teemed with villages, and was alive with a 
population which had laid out and conjoined every avail- 
able acre into one vast garden of fertility and wealth." 

Half-way between Manwyne and Sanda, the Chinese 
town of Karahokha was reached. This place was curi- 
ous because it was an entirely Chinese centre of trade 
situated in a district otherwise peopled only by Shans. 
The broad road running through the town was not 
only flanked by Chinese shops, but on market-days was 
crammed with temporary booths and sheds in which 
merchandise was displayed for sale. Sanda itself was 
found to be a poor and insignificant place, containing 



a8a FURTHER INDIA 

about 800 houses, and it had not recovered from the 
Muhammadan invasion of five years earlier, when, after 
it had been scientifically looted by the " Pan-thai " sol- 
diers, it was handed over to their Kakhyen allies. The 
Shan king of the place, however, received the travellers 
very kindly, and insisted upon Sladen adopting his 
grandson, certain astrologers having declared that the 
youth would never prosper unless the Englishman would 
consent to undertake this purely formal charge. Sladen 
won his heart by his ready acceptance of this commis- 
sion, and the travellers quitted Sanda on the i6th May, 
leaving staunch friends behind them. 

From Sanda the way led through rice-fields for a 
couple of miles to the foot of a red spur, whence a 
descent was again made into the Ta-ping valley. A road 
leading up the centre of the valley brought the party- 
to Mynela, on the left bank of the river, a town of some 
eight or ten thousand inhabitants and some 1,200 houses. 
Like Sanda it was built upon rising ground and was 
surrounded by a loop-holed brick wall. 

" The temples of Mynela are costly stone buildings, 
and the interior decorations have been carried out with 
a lavish expenditure of gold-leaf and labour which pro- 
claims the wealth of the people at large, and is evidence 
also of their artistic attainments." 

Like their brethren in Laos and the Burmese Shan States, 
the Shans of the Chinese frontier were found to be 
greatly given to the erection of Buddhistical temples; 
but Sladen noted how deeply they had taken the impress 
of the Chinese civilisation, and how unorthodox was 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 283 

their religion contrasting with the pure Buddhism of 
Burma. One curious element in the population was the 
Buddhist nuns, all of whom were of a peripatetic habit, 
many having wandered in pious pilgrimage as far afield 
as Rangoon. They had brought back with them the 
most favourable accounts of that portion of Burma which 
had already fallen under the rule of Great Britain, spoke 
'' in rapturous and familiar strains of Colonel Phayre," 
and had been instrumental in teaching their countrymen 
to regard Englishmen with feelings of friendship. 

While at Mynela, Sladen collected a considerable 
amount of information relative to the Chinese Shan 
States, the population of which he estimated at not less 
than 250,000 souls. He also had an interesting interview 
with the dowager-regent of the place and with her heir, 
by whom he was kindly received, before leaving for Mau- 
phu on May 23rd. This latter place, it will be recalled, 
was the stronghold of the robber chieftain, Lis-hi-ta-hi, 
whom the Governor of Mo-mein had routed a few weeks 
earlier. 

" Mauphoo itself," writes Sladen, " is insignificant both 
as a town and fortification, but its position had been 
well chosen as a safe and convenient place of retreat and 
rendezvous on account of natural defences and general 
inaccessibility. The Panthays for some years past had 
either tolerated or submitted to the presence at Mauphoo 
of an enemy who intercepted their communication with 
Burmah and disputed with them the sovereignty of the 
northern Shan States. It is now evident that this sub- 
mission originated in a fear of offending against Bur- 



284 FURTHER INDIA 

man scruples by direct interference with one who was 
known to be the secret agent of the Burmese Govern- 
ment. It was not therefore until my letters had reached 
Momein, and the Governor had been led to believe that 
we were supported and countenanced by the Burmese 
Government, that the Governor undertook the work of 
reducing Mauphoo and of opening out communication 
with ourselves at Ponsee. He argued rightly that either 
Mauphoo must cease to be a Chinese garrison, or the 
British expedition must fail in gaining access to the 
Chinese frontier." 

The Governor had invested the robber stronghold with 
a force of 5,000 men, and finally took it by assault after 
a large part of the garrison, failing to cut their way out, 
had submitted. Lis-hi-ta-hi lost several hundred of his 
followers during these operations, and the air was sick- 
ened by the exhalations from still unburied corpses at 
the time of Sladen's visit. 

From Mau-phu the travellers pushed on to the Nan- 
tin valley. The heights were guarded by bodies of 
friendly natives, and the Englishmen, as those who had 
been the indirect means of freeing the district from the 
tyranny of the Chinese robber, were everywhere greeted 
with noisy acclamations of pleasure. Again the country 
traversed was magnificent. 

" How superbly quiet and picturesque," exclaims 
Sladen, " is the view which is disclosed during the de- 
scent from the Mau-phoo heights ! At our feet lies the 
Ta-haw, now a smooth, quiet stream, flowing between 
deep precipitous banks of alternate rock and vegetation, 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 285 

and spanned by a veritable suspension bridge, the first 
of a series which assures us that we have passed the 
confines of the celestial empire. Six miles in advance 
(though apparently at our feet) may be descried the 
towns of Mynetee and Nantin, the former Shan and the 
latter Chinese, though at present under the rule of a 
Panthay Governor. In the distance the valley stretches 
away into space, with a dark background of lofty moun- 
tains which tend northerly far into Yunan. The average 
width of the valley did not exceed three miles, and the 
well-defined terraces or gradations of terraces at cor- 
responding heights on either side were evidences of a 
lacustrine period during which a gradual outlet was 
being forced through the Mauphoo gorge. The lake 
itself had silted up and formed the present rich alluvial 
expanse of plain and valley. There is reason to believe 
that the other Shan valleys we have thus far visited owe 
much of their present formation to a lacustrine origin, 
and that their unusual fertility and elevation are due as 
much to former sedimentary lake deposits as to a con- 
tinual accession of productive matter which is being in- 
cessantly superadded by periodical floods, as well as by 
the descent of debris from the adjoining slopes towards 
their several valley centres." 

Nan-tin was reached at dusk, and shortly after the 
travellers had taken up their quarters in the half-ruined 
Chinese temple assigned to them, a visit was paid to them 
by the Pan-thai Governor of the place and by his col- 
league, the Muhammadan Kazi. Next day the visit was 
repeated, and this time the Governor was also accom- 



286 FURTHER INDIA 

panied by Thong-wet-shein, a noted Chinese robber 
chieftain who had submitted to the Muhammadan Gov- 
ernment after the fall of Mau-phu. This worthy, says 
Sladen, " evidenced in his outward exterior an impres- 
sive realisation of the living brigand," for in a wild 
country such as this, a man does not rise even to the 
position of leader of a band of outlaws unless he stand 
possessed of unusual qualities of mind and person. 

From Nan-tin Sladen pushed on to Mo-mein, which 
is situated on the lower slopes of a plateau whose 
highest point is crossed about half-way between the 
two places. The volcanic origin of this plateau and 
of the whole surrounding region is plainly indicated, 
and in one place hot springs were found in which the 
temperature of the water was a trifle above boiling-point. 
The chief incident of the march, however, was the sud- 
den attack delivered by a band of Chinese dakaits upon 
the Pan-thai escort, — an attack in which one or two of 
the Muhammadan officers lost their lives, while several 
of the leading baggage-mules were carried off. Sladen 
and his companions were far at the rear at the moment 
when this ambush was revealed, but they succeeded in 
rallying and steadying their little force, and reached 
Mo-mein that evening without further interruption. 

" The approach to Momein," writes Sladen, " is very 
grand and beautiful. We had been descending for some 
time the eastern side of the high ridges which intersect 
to some extent the main valley of the Tahaw. The road, 
after passing down a long series of grassy undulations, 
led round the southern slope of a tumulus-shaped hill, 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 287 

1,000 feet in height, crowned on its summit by a high 
Chinese tower pagoda. It is at this point that the city 
of Momein is suddenly brought into view in a hollow 
basin, enclosed on all sides by hills of every shape and 
altitude, which slope down apparently to its very walls. 
In reality they are at some distance, and the intervening 
valley spaces are either under cultivation or mark the 
remains of large Chinese towns, now for the most part 
in ruins and deserted. Beyond the city, from our present 
point of view, the Tahaw and Momein valleys have 
formed a junction, and a narrow plain extends for about 
five miles in a northerly direction along the banks of the 
Tahaw, until limited in the distance by the gradual con- 
vergence of the lateral hill ranges. On the extreme north 
the horizon was bounded by a dark rugged outline of 
black mountains, with an apparent north and south direc- 
tion, which form, as far as it is allowed to deduce facts 
from observation and inquiry, a portion of the main cen- 
tral Himalayan chain, which is continued far south into 
Burma and the Malay Peninsula." 

The Governor of Mo-mein was waiting to receive the 
travellers without the walls of his city, having come out 
in full state for that purpose. The attitude of this Gov- 
ernor, as indeed of all the " Pan-thai " authorities en- 
countered by Sladen, presents an interesting contrast to 
that of the men of the same clan who had dealings with 
Garnier during his flying visit to Ta-li-fu. It will be 
remembered that the French traveller ascribed his failure 
to obtain permission to proceed to the fact that the Mu- 
hammadans of Ta-li-fu must have mistaken him for an 



288 FURTHER INDIA 

Englishman, all Englishmen, in Garnier's opinion, being 
necessarily hateful to the followers of the Prophet. This 
contention is not sustained by the reception everywhere 
accorded to Sladen in the territory under Muhammadan 
jurisdiction. By no stretch of imagination could the fol- 
lowing words have been written of the welcome extended 
to Garnier, armed though he was with letters of recom- 
mendation to the rulers of Ta-li-fu from Lao Papa, the 
great Muhammadan doctor and priest. 

" The reception," writes Sladen, " was flattering and 
courteous to excess, and as such produced feelings of 
special gratification in those who had come as strangers 
to an unknown government, and after three months of 
obstruction and annoyance, suddenly found themselves 
amongst powerful friends and raised to the position of 
well-favoured guests." 

None the less Sladen was not destined to visit Ta-li- 
fu or to travel farther into Yun-nan. He had already 
seen his caravan attacked by dakaits, and he became con- 
vinced, after a protracted stay at Mo-mein, that he could 
pursue his journey only at the cost of causing great 
trouble and danger to the authorities who had treated 
him with so much hospitality. The road to Ta-li-fu was 
infested by armed parties of brigands, and the strangers 
could get to that town only by fighting their way thither. 
To do this would have been contrary to his instructions, 
and Sladen therefore reluctantly decided to abandon the 
attempt. On July 13th the party left Mo-mein and 
began its march back to Bhamo. Passing through Nan- 
tin, Sladen pushed on to Myne-la, whence he purposed 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 289 

travelling to Burma via the Hotha route, which lies 
somewhat farther to the south than that previously trav- 
ersed by way of Sanda. After long conferences with 
the Shans, Sladen was forced to abandon a portion of his 
project, and had to follow the old route as far as Man- 
wyne. Leaving this place on August loth, he crossed 
into the Hotha valley, visited that town, and thence 
despatched a Burmese surveyor to examine the route to 
Bhamo via Myne-wan. Sladen himself passed near the 
town of Latha, and thence followed the valley of the 
Ta-ping, journeying through the Kakhyen hills to the 
south of that river, and so to Bhamo, which was reached 
on September 5th. 

At Myne-la Sladen had been joined by Mr. Robert 
Gordon, an engineer who had been sent to replace Will- 
iams, and this officer was subsequently able to supply 
the Government with some valuable surveys of the coun- 
try between that place and Bhamo, together with detailed 
reports concerning the merits of the several routes into 
Yun-nan. Moreover, as engineer in charge of the river 
works, he added largely to our knowledge of the Lower 
Irawadi, and published a valuable report on the river, 
1879-80. So late as 1885 he was an ardent advocate of 
the theory — then generally believed, and almost immedi- 
ately afterwards demonstrated, to be erroneous — that the 
main source of the Irawadi was to be found in the 
Sanpo of Tibet. In 1868, both this officer and Sladen 
fell into the error of supposing that, once the difficulties 
of the Kakhyen hills had been surmounted and Mo-mein 
had been reached, no serious obstacles remained in the 
way of the traveller to Ta-li-fu. Their reports, there- 



290 FURTHER INDIA 

fore, induced the belief that an admirable route, whereby 
the trade of Yun-nan might be tapped, had been dis- 
covered, and this gave to the results obtained by the 
expedition an air of importance which was not rightly 
to be claimed for them. 

On January 4th, 1868, Mr. T. T. Cooper left Han- 
Kau and made his way to Batang, on the south-eastern 
borders of Tibet. From this point he travelled south, 
chiefly following the valley of the Lan-tsang, as the 
waters of the Mekong are here called. At Tse-ku, just 
within the Yun-nan boundary, he found French Roman 
Catholic missionaries established on the left bank of the 
river, and he calculated that this place was distant only 
some 80 miles from the upper portion of the Irawadi in 
the Khanti country which had been visited from Assam 
by Wilcox, though this estimate was not sufficiently lib- 
eral. Proceeding south he was stopped before he could 
reach Ta-li-fu, and was forced to retrace his steps. 

In October, 1869, however, he returned to the charge, 
this time making Assam his starting-point. Leaving 
Sadiya he passed up the line of the Lohit, that is, the 
Brahmaputra, and reached Prun, a village 20 miles from 
Rima, the first Tibetan post. But again he was turned 
back. 

In 1874 the Muhammadan, or as Sladen erroneously 
called it the " Panthai," rebellion, of which in these pages 
such frequent mention has been made, came to an end, 
Ta-li-fu falling at last into the hands of the Chinese 
Government. In January of the following year Lord 
Salisbury appointed a British Mission, under Colonel 
Browne, to cross China from Bhamo to Shanghai, and 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 191 

in order to obviate difficulties Mr. Augustus Raymond 
Margary, of the Consular Service in China, was in- 
structed to proceed overland to Bhamo, there to join the 
mission after having prepared the way for its advent. 
This young Englishman is the type of those of his race 
who have built up our world-wide empire, and the haz- 
ardous duty assigned to him filled him with pride and 
with delight. 

" Is it not a splendid mission ? " he writes in a letter 
addressed to the lady whom he hoped to make his wife. 
" What wonderful things I shall see ! I shall hope to 
have grand sport in the forests and mountains which 
teem with wild life. It is impossible to say when you 
may hear from me. . . . All sorts of rumours may 
arise as to my fate. Let me beg of you not to believe 
one; rest assured I will make my way there and back, 
by God's help, as safe as a trivit." 

It is a fine thing truly to be possessed of youth, and 
health and high spirits, to be vouchsafed that golden 
gift — an opportunity — and to be endowed above your 
fellows with a special mission that promises so great 
a measure of adventure and of romance. So doubtless 
thought young Margary when, on August 23rd, 1874, he 
set out from Shanghai to traverse China. He ascended 
the Yang-tse to Han-Kau, and thence, to use his own 
words, " plunged into the Dark for six months." Trav- 
elling over a route similar to that followed by Garnier 
six years earlier, he reached Ta-li-fu, and thence passed 
on to Bhamo via Mo-mein and the Kakhyen hills, arriv- 
ing at the Burmese city on January 17th, 1875. He 



292 FURTHER INDIA 

was thus the first to traverse the country between Ta- 
H-fu, which had been visited by Gamier, and Mo-mein, 
which as we have seen was the point to which Sladen's 
expedition had attained. He was, moreover, the first 
white man to make his way into Burma from Shanghai, 
and when he joined Colonel Browne at Bhamo his ar- 
rival caused a tremendous sensation, not only among 
the Europeans, but also among the natives in that place. 
Early in February Browne's mission left Bhamo, and 
began its march to Shanghai, but on the fringe of the 
Kakhyen country rumours of trouble reached the trav- 
ellers, the hill-tribes, instigated it was reported by the 
mandarins of Serai and Manwyne, being said to be pre- 
paring to resist the advance of the Europeans. Mar- 
gary, who had come single-handed through China, and 
had made friends with the authorities, laughed at these 
rumours, and leaving the rest of the mission, pushed 
on ahead to make inquiries and to reassure the natives. 
He crossed the frontier on February 19th, taking no 
escort with him, and on the following day letters from 
him reported his safe arrival at Serai. On February 
2 1st Browne moved forward and reached Serai, and 
next day the mission-camp was surrounded by hostile 
natives. The same day news was received from Man- 
wyne that poor young Margary had been murdered on 
February 22nd. After a hard day's fighting, Browne 
was able in the evening to draw off his people, and to 
recross the frontier into Burmese territory with all his 
baggage. The mission had failed on the very threshold 
of its enterprise, and one more youngster of high prom- 
ise had fallen, as so many Englishmen have fallen, in 




Augustus R. Margary 



From his " Journey from Shanghai to Bhamo.' 
Macmillan & Co. 



By permission of 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 293 

the foremost skirmishing-line of the Empire. The man 
who had crossed China from the sea to Burma without 
any armed escort, and had thus accompUshed something 
the memory of which will never be forgotten, was not 
quite nine and twenty years old at the time of his prema- 
ture death. 

On November 5th, 1875, a mission under the command 
of the Hon. T. Grosvenor left Han-Kau for the pur- 
pose of inquiring into the circumstances of poor young 
Margary's assassination. The mission reached Yun- 
nan-fu on March 6th, 1876, and Ta-li-fu on April nth, 
and thence passed on to Mo-mein, thus again traversing 
the country between the regions explored by Gamier 
and those visited by Sladen in 1868. Mr. Colborne 
Baber, of the British Consular Service in China, who 
was attached to the mission, made a careful examination 
of the country traversed by the Grosvenor mission, and 
in February, 1877, forwarded from Han-Kau copies of 
the surveys which he had made. Of these the most im- 
portant was the survey of the route from Ta-li-fu to 
Teng-yue, as Mo-mein is called by the Chinese, for Mar- 
gary's death had robbed the Government of the detailed 
information concerning this area which he had collected. 
Bhamo was placed by Baber 's survey in topographical 
communication with Shanghai and Saigon, for it was 
now linked to the areas surveyed by Gamier. In other 
respects, however, the results of Baber's investigations 
were not so satisfactory to Englishmen. Sladen, as we 
have noted, had imagined that the difficulties of the 
route from Burma into Yun-nan ended at Mo-mein, the 
point reached by his expedition. Baber now corrected 



294 FURTHER INDIA 

this misapprehension, and added that it was precisely 
at Mo-mein that the greatest difficulties began. 

" The valleys, or rather abysses, of the Salwin and 
Mekong," he wrote, " must long remain insuperable dif- 
ficulties, not to mention many other obstacles/' 

And again he writes, 

" Loath as most Englishmen are to admit it, the sim- 
ple and evident approach to Eastern Yun-nan is from 
the Gulf of Tongking. But it by no means follows 
that the same holds true of the western part of the 
province. The object should be to attain some town of 
importance south of Yung-chang and Ta-li-fu, such as 
Shun-ning, from which both these cities could be reached 
by ascending the valleys instead of crossing all the 
mountain ranges, as must be done if the T'eng-yueh 
(Mo-mein) route is selected." 

Baber, moreover, threw much light upon the route de- 
scribed by Marco Polo in the fifth chapter of his book, 
and established the identity of Yachi and Carajan with 
the modern Yun-nan-fu and Ta-li-fu. His careful and 
accurate investigations added largely to the stock of in- 
formation at that time in the possession of Europeans 
concerning western China, — a region which only indi- 
rectly comes within the scope of our inquiry, — and in 
May, 1883, his labours were rewarded by the bestowal 
on him of the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical 
Society. 

In August, 1877, Mr. McCarthy, of the China Inland 
Mission, reached Bhamo, having come across Yun-nan 
vid Yun-nan-fu and Ta-li-fu. Eight months later the 
journey from Ta-li-fu to Bhamo was also performed by 




Captain William Gill, R. E. 



Edward Colborne Baber 



From "The River of Golden Sand." By permission of 
Mr. John Murray 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 29J 

Captain William John Gill, who in 1877-78 made some 
important explorations in China, the most interesting of 
which were undertaken in the valley of the " River of 
Golden Sand," the Kin-sha-kiang, which is the name 
borne by the upper waters of the Yang-tse. Gill ex- 
plored this valley to the south-eastern confines of Tibet, 
and traversed the country between Batang and Ta-li-fu. 
From the latter place he made his way to Bhamo, and 
later recorded his experiences in an interesting book of 
travel, a subsequent edition of which had the good for- 
tune to be edited by Colonel Henry Yule. In Septem- 
ber, 1877, the journey from Ta-li-fu to Bhamo had been 
made by another missionary, Mr. Cameron, and on 
February 13th, 1880, Count Bela Szechenyi, a young 
Austrian noble, after traversing China and trying vainly 
to force an entrance into Tibet, arrived at Bhamo from 
Ta-li-fu. In 1882 Mr. Archibald Colquhoun, accom- 
panied by Mr. Charles Wahab, ascended the West River 
of Canton to Pe-se, and travelled through southern Yun- 
nan to the frontier town of Sze-mao — so long known to 
our officers in Burma under the name of Esmok — ^the 
once suggested terminus of the Burma-Chinese railway 
which Sprey had so persistently and vainly advocated in 
the sixties. Here Mr. Colquhoun was stopped, and was 
forced to turn north, eventually reaching Bhamo via the 
Ta-li-fu route. His journey was interesting and impor- 
tant since it covered an area which had never previously 
been scientifically explored and surveyed. Moreover, it 
was made by one who could use his pen as well as his 
limbs, and the result was a delightful book, "Across 
Chryse," published in 1883. A study of this journey, 



296 FURTHER INDIA 

however, does not come within the scope of the present 
work. 

By this time the relations between the British and the 
Burmese Governments had become greatly strained, the 
position having become critical after the accession of 
Thibaw, who came to the throne in 1878, and celebrated 
the occasion by having a number of his relatives mur- 
dered in a singularly cold-blooded manner. In 1879 ^'^^ 
Resident had been withdrawn from Mandalay, his posi- 
tion having become untenable since he was the impotent 
witness of horrors which he had no power to prevent. A 
large amount of British capital, however, had been in- 
vested in Burma, the Irawadi Flotilla Company possess- 
ing all the shipping on the great river, and being engaged 
on a large scale in the export of teak. France, too, had 
realised the importance of Burma, and Thibaw's per- 
sistent coquetting with foreign intriguers caused acute 
anxiety to the Government of India. At last in 1885 the 
King inflicte'd a huge fine upon the Flotilla Company, and 
threatened to confiscate its property unless his demands 
were immediately satisfied. This led to war. The Flotilla 
Company's fleet was chartered, and in November a force 
of 9,000 men was moved up the Irawadi. After a stub- 
bom fight at Minhla on November 17th, the flotilla made 
its way to the vicinity of Ava, and as it drew near to the 
ancient capital it was met, on November 26th, with an 
offer of surrender. Thibaw was deposed; Burma was 
annexed ; and the first stage of the last Burmese War 
had ended ere it had well begun. 

Many thousands of Burman soldiers, however, had 
not come into collision with our troops, and these pres- 



EXPLORATION IN BURMA 297 

ently formed themselves into bands of dakaits by whom 
a guerilla warfare was carried on for a protracted period. 
The second phase of the struggle upon which the British 
army now entered has rightly been described as " a 
subaltern's war." That is to say, the force was split 
up into innumerable tiny detachments, each of which 
had for its duty the tranquillisation of a particular area. 
By this means upper Burma was overrun by white men 
in a fashion which defies detailed description. After 
the conclusion of the war followed the work of admin- 
istration and survey, and to-day it is hardly too much 
to say that almost every cranny of the Burmese empire, 
from which of old Europeans were so rigidly excluded, 
has been visited and explored by British officers. Where 
so many explorers, acting for the most part in official 
capacities, have done such excellent work, it is some- 
what invidious to refer to individuals, but mention may 
perhaps be made of one or two expeditions from the 
side of India which made important contributions towards 
the solution of the problem of the sources of the Irawadi. 
Two native explorers were despatched by the Indian 
Government in 1879 to locate the sources of the river, 
and though they did not succeed in accomplishing this 
task, they brought back much interesting information 
derived from the natives with whom they came into 
contact. In 1884-85 Colonel R. G. Woodthorpe and 
Major C. R. Macgregor conducted an expedition from 
Sadiya, on the upper waters of the Brahmaputra, to the 
Kampti Shan country on the western branch of the Ira- 
wadi — ^the Nam-kiu — returning over the Pathoi range. 
Just above the point where it is joined by the Nam-lung 



298 FURTHER INDIA 

{2f 15' 30" N., 97° 38' 30'' E.) they found the Nam- 
kiu to be only about 85 yards broad and nowhere more 
than 5 feet deep. Its source was stated to lie among 
hills immediately to the north. In 1885-86 Mr. J. F. 
Needham followed the Brahmaputra up to Rima, and 
disposed of the theory that the Sampo River of Tibet 
was the upper Irawadi, while seven years later, in the 
season of 1892-93, Mr. Errol Gray, a tea-planter of 
Assam, in attempting to make his way from that prov- 
ince to Western China, penetrated farther east than any 
previous traveller who had explored upper Burma from 
the west, and though unable to complete his programme, 
crossed the Nam-kiu and reached the valley of the 
Tisang, a tributary of the Irawadi ranking in importance 
with the Nam-kiu branch of the river. An account of 
the contribution made by Prince Henri of Orleans to 
our knowledge of the headwaters of the Irawadi must 
be reserved for the next chapter. Finally, in connection 
with the general exploration of upper Burma, special 
mention must be made of the work of Mr. J. G. (now 
Sir James) Scott, who, both as an administrator and 
as a member of the various boundary commissions that 
have been engaged in settling the frontiers, has added 
largely to the sum of our information about the country, 
with which he has, perhaps, a more intimate acquaintance 
than any living European. Of the results obtained by 
all these incessant efforts to open up Burma and the 
Shan States under Burmese rule, more will have to be 
said in the concluding chapter of the book. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE FURTHER EXPLORATION OF SIAM', FRENCH INDO- 
CHINA, AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 

THE comparatively meagre knowledge possessed 
by Europeans concerning the geography of 
Siam up to the middle of the last century is 
well exemplified by a paper on the subject which was 
read before the Royal Geographical Society in London 
on December loth, 1855, by Mr., afterwards Sir, Harry 
Parkes, who at that time occupied the position of British 
Consul at Bangkok. The only surveys of the country 
then available, he declared, were those which had been 
made in the course of their professional journeys by Dr. 
S. R. House and his fellows of the American Missions. 
These journeys had always been made by boat, and the 
surveys were taken by the somewhat primitive system 
known as " time and compass." The map thus com- 
piled, however, contained. Sir Harry Parkes wrote, " all 
the authentic geographical information we possess on 
that most important part of the Siamese dominions, the 
great valley of the Menam." Yet when we come to ex- 
amine it, the area delineated is very meagre and circum- 
scribed. It is covered by barely as much as two degrees 
of latitude, and embraces nothing beyond the lower 
valleys of the Menam and Meklong Rivers. Bishop 
Pallegoix, whose important work on Siam appeared in 
1852, had penetrated somewhat farther into the interior, 

299 



300 FURTHER INDIA 

though Sir Harry Parkes believed that his explorations 
only extended on the Menam as far as Pakprian, a dis- 
tance of 30 miles from the point at which the Ameri- 
can survey terminated, on the Meklong for a distance 
of about 120 miles from its mouth, and on the Tachin 
as far as Supanburi, a matter of 180 miles or so from 
its outfall. For the rest, the latitude of Ayuthia, the 
ancient capital of Siam, and of Lopburi, a town some- 
what farther up the valley of the Menam, had been fixed 
by Captain Davis, the commander of a merchantman, 
who had accompanied the King to these places a year 
or two before the time of which Parkes was speaking. 
Topographical and statistical information on the sub- 
ject of Siam, albeit of a character of only approximate 
accuracy, was not, however, lacking. Merchants and 
missionaries were now residing in Siam in fair numbers, 
arid in 1852 Frederick Arthur Neale, an Englishman 
who had spent many years in Siam, published an account 
of the country. His personal knowledge of it does not 
appear to have extended much beyond a few trade- 
centres, and in the same year Bishop Pallegoix's far 
more important work made its appearance. The Roman 
Catholic missionaries in south-eastern Asia have made 
good their claim to be regarded as among the most ad- 
venturesome of their kind, and Pallegoix, from his posi- 
tion as head of their organisation in Siam and from his 
intimate knowledge of the natives and of their language, 
had been able to collect a remarkable amount of reliable 
information concerning Siam and its inhabitants. His 
book, therefore, represented by far the most important 
contribution to European knowledge of Siam that had 



• FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 301 

then been made. It is, on the whole, wonderfully accu- 
rate, and even to-day it ranks as a standard work upon 
the Siam of half a century ago. He knew, chiefly through 
native reports, the names and relative positions of all 
the provinces of Siam; he described each of these with 
a fair amount of detail, from Chieng Mai on the Me- 
ping, and Luang Prabang on the Mekong, to the Malay 
States of the Peninsula; and his estimates of the total 
population of the country, 6,000,000 souls, and its divi- 
sion into races, were fairly correct so far as can now be 
judged. Of the Mekong he possessed no personal know- 
ledge, and he merely repeated information supplied to 
him by natives, but he had obtained a fair idea of its 
size and of the direction in which it flows from Luang 
Prabang through Laos. 

In 1855 Sir John Bowring was sent to Bangkok on 
a special mission, and in his published account of his 
visit a considerable amount of information is given con- 
cerning the past history of Siam and Siamese relations 
with the West. Bowring, however, had no opportunity 
of materially adding to the facts collected by his prede- 
cessors. 

In 1856 Mr. D. O. King returned to Bangkok after 
nearly a year spent in Eastern Siam and in Kambodia. 
He had ascended the Bang Pa Kong from Bangkok to 
Pachim and Muong Kabin, and thence had made his 
way over a " military road," which had been constructed 
five and twenty years earlier, to the Tasawai River. He 
had spent some time at Batambang, and thence had paid 
visits to Chantabun and to the gold mines situated be- 
tween Batambang and the Menam valley. Leaving 



302 FURTHER INDIA 

Batambang he had passed completely round the shores 
of the great lake of Tonle Sap, visiting Siam-reap and 
Angkor (which he spelled "Nakon "), subsequently de- 
scending the branch of the lake to Udong and Pnom 
Penh. Thence he eventually passed through Cochin- 
China to the sea. He made no surveys, and his account 
of his journey, written in a style which has nothing to 
recommend it to the reader, is curiously barren of inter- 
est. In 1859 the Angkor ruins were visited and described 
by Dr. James Campbell, a medical officer of the Royal 
Navy. 

In the previous year, Henri Mouhot, the story of whose 
wanderings and death near Luang Prabang has been 
told in an earlier chapter, landed in Siam, and between 
that time and 1861 explored the lower Menam valley, 
the greater part of Chantabun and Batambang, the lake 
of Tonle-Sap and its vicinity, the ruins of Angkor, much 
of the hill country of Kambodia inhabited by primitive 
tribes, and finally the land-route between Korat and 
Luang Prabang. Mouhot, as we have seen, did not live 
to edit his own notes, and his latitudes were inaccurate, 
his instruments having suffered in the course of the 
rough overland journey from the Menam to the Mekong. 
He was thus robbed of the best fruits of the labours 
which cost him his life; but none the less, to Henri 
Mouhot belongs the distinction of being, so far as is 
known, the first white man to traverse the country lying 
between Korat and Luang Prabang, and his delightful 
book, to which so melancholy an interest attaches, threw 
the first light upon what had hitherto been one of the 
dark places of the earth. 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 303 

Nearly twenty years before Mouhot's time, however, 
a similar service had been rendered to the upper dis- 
tricts of western Siam by Richardson, who, in addition 
to playing the part already described in the history of 
Burmese explorations, had made his way overland from 
Maulmain to Bangkok. He was intrusted, as usual, 
with a commercial mission, and he left Maulmain by 
boat in December, 1838. At the end of a few days he 
exchanged his boats for elephants, and followed the 
Zimi River up into the hills. The extension of these 
hills towards the south, it may be noted, forms the 
range which is, as it were, the backbone of the Malay 
Peninsula. The road was difficult, the country sparsely 
peopled by rude tribes, and rain fell incessantly, but he 
wormed his way through the highlands with his accus- 
tomed doggedness, and on January 14th, 1839, found 
himself upon the eastern slope within a journey of ** five 
or six days of Tavoi, as the Kareens travel." From this 
point he descended into the valley of the Meklong, reach- 
ing Kanaburi on the 25th January, and descending the 
river from that place, cut across to the Menam, which 
he reached some distance below Bangkok. In the course 
of his journey he obtained a good general idea of the 
mountain system between Tenasserim and Siam, added 
to the information then possessed on the subject of the 
Meklong and its tributaries, but otherwise achieved no 
very important results; for his commercial mission led 
to nothing. The mountains with their uncivilised in- 
habitants presented a serious barrier to trade between 
Siam and Tenasserim. 

In 1859 Sir Robert Schomburgk, F.R.S., during his 



304 FURTHER INDIA 

tenure of office as British Consul at Bangkok, undertook 
a long and arduous journey, of which, however, he has 
left us only a meagre record. Starting from Bangkok 
on December 12th, he reached Raheng, the most southerly 
of the Laos cities on the Me-ping, the great western 
branch of the Menam, on January 9th, i860. Here he 
sent his boats back to Bangkok, and continued the jour- 
ney on elephants, reaching Chieng Mai via Lampun — or 
Labun, as Richardson and his fellows always called it — 
on nth February. From Chieng Mai he made his way 
to Maulmain by the trade route which had already been 
explored more than once by British officers from the Bur- 
mese side. Schomburgk was certainly among the earliest, 
if not the very first, European to reach the Gulf of Ben- 
gal from the Gulf of Siam, via Chieng Mai, since the 
time of the ill-fated factor, Samuel, at the beginning of 
the seventeenth century. From Maulmain Schomburgk 
proceeded by steamer to Tavoi, whence he crossed the 
mountain range on elephants, and in eight days reached 
the junction of the Me-nam-noi with the Meklong. 
Descending the banks of the latter stream as far as 
Kanburi, he next struck across to Bangkok, where he 
arrived after an absence of 135 days, 86 of which had 
been occupied in actual travelling. He made no surveys 
of the route followed, and the information which he 
gathered was of a general and statistical rather than of 
a geographical character. The same remark applies with 
equal force to other consular journeys made in Siam 
during the next twenty years, and unofficial visitors to 
the country, who were either missionaries or traders, 
were more concerned with their own immediate interests 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 305 

than with the duty of adding to the sum of geographical 
knowledge. The scientific mapping and exploration of 
Siam did not begin until 1881, when Mr. James Mc- 
Carthy, of whose work more will be said presently, 
entered the Siamese service, began a series of interest- 
ing journeys, and gradually brought into being an effi- 
cient State survey department. 

In the meanwhile in other parts of the Indo-Chinese 
peninsula European explorers had been busy. M. J. 
Dupuis, a French merchant, had met Gamier at Han- 
Kau in May, 1868, and though he claimed originality 
for his idea, there seems to be little doubt that the notion 
of opening up a trade-route between Yun-nan and the 
Gulf of Tongking by means of the Song-Koi was sug- 
gested to Dupuis by the discoveries made by the French 
mission. Be this how it may, Dupuis travelled in the 
province of Yun-nan in 1868 and 1869, but the disturbed 
state of the country consequent upon the Muhammadan 
rebellion, prevented him from proceeding beyond Yun- 
nan-fu. In 1871, by which time he had become a con- 
tractor for the Chinese army, he left Yun-nan-fu on 
February 25th bound for Tongking. Travelling over- 
land in a southerly direction, he struck the Song-Koi at 
Mang-hao, and navigated it from that point to the sea. 
He was under contract to bring a cargo of arms and 
ammunition up the river into Yun-nan, and this he suc- 
ceeded in doing in 1872, in spite of the opposition of 
the authorities in Tongking and the difficulties of the 
river route which he had selected for his operations. 
At Yun-nan-sen he purchased a cargo of tin and copper, 
and undertook to bring back a return cargo of salt from 



3o6 FURTHER INDIA 

Torigking. On his arrival at Hanoi, however, the local 
mandarins declined absolutely to permit him to purchase 
and carry salt to China, salt being their own precious 
monopoly. Dupuis appealed to the French Government 
at Saigon, and our old friend Francis Gamier was sent 
with a small force to arbitrate between the French mer- 
chant and the mandarins of Hanoi. 

Gamier arrived at the capital of Tongking on Novem- 
ber 5th, 1873, and ten days later issued a proclamation 
declaring the Song-Koi open to general commerce. This 
determined, but perhaps over-hasty, action led to im- 
mediate hostilities, and on November 20th Gamier seized 
the citadel of Hanoi by assault. For one backed by so 
tiny a force, Garnier's policy was audacious to the point 
of recklessness, but for the moment it succeeded so well 
that in the course of a few weeks he had made himself 
master of five native strongholds, and seemingly had the 
whole of lower Tongking in his grip. The Annamese, 
who saw their possession slipping from their grasp, now 
called in the Black Flags, the lawless bands of marauders 
who had effected a lodging in northern Tongking dur- 
ing the prolonged disturbances in Yun-nan. These new 
enemies forthwith attacked Hanoi, and on December 
2 1st Francis Gamier was killed while leading a sortie 
against them. Impetuous, eager, strenuous, and fearless 
to the last, he fell far in advance of his men, and by his 
death France was robbed at a critical moment of one of 
the few of her sons who have won for themselves great 
reputations while engaged in building up her empire 
beyond the seas. 

The man who was next sent to Hanoi was of another 




bCi 



pq 



^ 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 307 

type. This worthy, M. Philastre, lost no time in issuing 
a proclamation in which he not only repudiated all the 
doings of Garnier, but went out of his way to insult pub- 
licly the memory of his great predecessor. He ordered 
the evacuation of Tongking, and losing his head at a 
critical moment, mistook some harmless native trading- 
ships for pirates, fired upon and sunk them, and hanged 
their captains. As for poor M. Dupuis, his vessels were 
sequestrated, and the withdrawal of the French was fol- 
lowed by a massacre of their native allies. In March, 
1874, a treaty was concluded between France and An- 
nam whereby Kui-nhon, Haiphong, and Hanoi were 
thrown open to commerce and French consuls were sta- 
tioned in these towns. The position of these officers, 
however, was the reverse of enviable, for their country 
had for the moment fallen into contempt, and they were 
subjected to the greatest indignities. 

Dupuis had none the less succeeded in accomplishing 
something, for he had explored the course of the Song- 
Koi. Above Mang-hao he found that the stream passed 
through long defiles, with almost perpendicular moun- 
tains rising abruptly from its banks, and even he owned 
that it was doubtful whether the stream was navigable 
for any save small canoes in this portion of its course. 
Below Mang-hao, however, at which point it is already 
about 100 yards across, he considered the Song-Koi an 
excellent waterway, and he placed the distance from 
Mang-hao to Hanoi at 304 miles, or 414 miles from 
the sea at the mouth of the Thai Binh branch of the 
delta. That the Song-Koi was navigable Dupuis proved 
past any doubt, since he actually carried his cargo of 



3o8 FURTHER INDIA 

warlike stores up river, and returned with tin and cop- 
per; but his desire to create a new trade-route led him 
to underestimate its difficulties, and above Tuan-kuan 
it is impracticable except from April to November. As 
a trade-route the Song-Koi must therefore be regarded 
as of little value, and if the commerce of southern China 
is ever to be brought to the Gulf of Tongking it must 
be not by water but by railroad. 

A few years later the French were once more engaged 
in active warfare in Tongking, their enemies being the 
redoubtable Black Flags, who were now in possession 
of upper Tongking and had made numerous descents 
into the valley of the Mekong. It is at this point that 
explorations in Siam begin to join on to the explora- 
tions of French officers in the " Empire of Annam," as 
Annam and Tongking are collectively named, and we 
■must turn for the moment to the journeys of Mr. James 
McCarthy, which are the first link in the chain. 

It was in 1881 that Mr. McCarthy, who, it has been 
noted, was in the service of the King of Siam, began to 
prepare the way for a map of that country. His first 
undertaking was an examination of the route for a tele- 
graph line between Bangkok and Maulmain, via Raheng 
and Tak. Mr. McCarthy fixed the position of Raheng 
by a small series of triangles in connection with the East- 
ern Frontier series of Surveys made by the Government 
of India, and ran a traverse with chain and compass from 
Kampangpet to Nakon Sawan, a distance of 90 miles, 
but was then compelled to return to Bangkok owing to 
a bad attack of fever. He next employed himself in 
making a large scale survey of Sampeng, the most thickly 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 309 

populated quarter of Bangkok, and made this a training- 
ground for the Siamese youths whom he was educating to 
become his assistants. After this he again ascended the 
Menam, and entering the Me-ping surveyed and mapped 
the country between Raheng and Chieng Mai, in order 
to faciHtate the settlement of a dispute as to boundaries ; 
but fever, which, as he cheerfully says, had now become 
his " annual companion," once more forced him to re- 
turn to Bangkok. In 1883 Mr. McCarthy made a tour in 
the Malay Peninsula in connection with a boundary dis- 
pute which had arisen between the State of Perak, which 
was under British protection, and Raman, a portion of 
the ancient kingdom of Petani. Touching first at Cham- 
pon — which had been visited a few months earlier by a 
party of French engineers, who desired to report upon 
the possibility of cutting a ship-canal through the isth- 
mus of Kra — he passed on to Senggora, and thence to 
the mouth of the Petani River. The French engineers, 
it should be noted, had found a point at which the highest 
hill was only 250 feet above sea-level, which was 200 
feet lower than the pass crossed by Richardson and 
Tremenheere in 1839. Passing up-stream, McCarthy 
reached Raman ; Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident of 
Perak, had a conference with the Siamese Commissioner 
sent to meet him; and McCarthy then made a survey 
of the disputed territory, including the upper reaches of 
the Perak River. He returned to Bangkok via Singa- 
pore, which he reached by steamer. 

In January, 1884, he again left Bangkok, and after 
ascending the Menam to Saraburi, quitted his boats and 
marched to Korat through the "Dong Phia Fai," or 



3IO FURTHER INDIA 

Forest of the Lord of Fire, a region which is noto>- 
rious as a terrible fever-trap. He crossed the Pi-mun, 
on the banks of which is the town of Ubon, at Muong 
Pi-mai, whence he proceeded to Kunwapi, and after 
traversing forest country emerged into the populous dis- 
trict in which Nong-Kai, the new city erected close to 
the ruins of Vien Chan, is situated. Here for the first 
time McCarthy saw the waters of the Mekong, and send- 
ing his assistant, Mr. Bush, up that river, he himself 
crossed over into the country which had been ravaged by 
the Haws, or Black Flags. It will be remembered that 
the country lying between Tongking and the Mekong had 
at one time been entirely under the control of Annam, 
but later the Siamese laid claim to it, and after they 
had suffered defeat, returned to the charge, and by 
transporting the entire population across the river left 
the armies of Annam nothing to fight for. Later, Siam 
quietly reoccupied the abandoned territory, and it was 
not until France had won ascendency over Annam that 
the rights of that kingdom to the region in question 
were at last enforced, and the Mekong became the 
boundary-line between French Indo-China and the Laos 
States under Siamese control. At the time of McCar- 
thy's visit, this beautiful country was practically deserted, 
the troubles caused by the Haw being in full swing; but 
crossing the Nam Tang, he ascended into a plateau, 
some 60 square miles in extent, at an elevation of 3,500 
feet above sea-level. Thence he passed on to Chieng 
Kwang, or Muong Puan, as it is variously called, the 
capital of the district, and found it under the sway of 
the Haw, the robber stronghold of Tung-Chieng-Kam 




On the Mon River 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 311 

being within three days' march of it. From Chieng 
Kwang he passed on in a south-easterly direction to 
Muong Ngan, which Hes at an elevation of 4,800 feet. 
Here he found that two French priests had shortly 
before been living in the place, which had also been 
visited by M. Neiss, a French traveller and political 
agent. The latter had endeavoured to obtain an acknow- 
ledgment of the sovereignty of Annam from the people 
of Muong Ngan, and after his departure the Haw had 
come down and looted the little town. At Ta Tom, the 
place next reached, the Nam Chan, a tributary of the 
Mekong, was found to be navigable for rafts, and on May 
14th McCarthy reached Pachum, where the Nam Chan 
falls into the great river, and passed on to Nong Kai. 
Starting again on May i6th he made his way up-stream 
to Luang Prabang, where he arrived on May 29th. 
Heavy rains now began to fall, and the party suffered 
severely from fever, Mr. Bush dying of it on June 29th, 
adding yet one more name to the long roll of those who 
have given their lives in the cause of exploration in 
south-eastern Asia. On July 5th McCarthy left Luang 
Prabang, and dropping down the river to Pak-Lai, a 
short distance below which the Mekong turns abruptly to 
the east^ landed and marched across the divide to 
Muong Wa, striking the Menam at Yandu. The pass 
from the Mekong to the Menam valleys is here traversed 
by a very easy track. From Yandu McCarthy returned 
to Bangkok down the Menam River. 

In November he again started for the Mekong valley, 
ascending the Menam to Nakon Sawan, and thence to 
Pak-nam Po, at the junction of the Me-ping. Continu- 



312 FURTHER INDIA 

ing the ascent of the Menam he reached Utaradit, where 
the boats were finally quitted, Mr. D. J. Collins and Lieu- 
tenant Rossmussen, a Dane, who had accompanied him, 
leaving him at Nan and proceeding to Luang Prabang 
via Muong Hung. McCarthy, on the other hand, went 
by Tanun on the Mekong, visiting en route the crater 
of the volcano called the Pu Fai Yai, or Great Fire Hill, 
which had disappointed the expectations of the members 
of the French mission deputed by de Lagree to examine 
it. From Tanun McCarthy, who had traversed from 
Nan a considerable stretch of unexplored country, went 
down river to Luang Prabang, halting on the way to 
see the great cave opposite to the mouth of the Nam 
Hu, which had also been visited by Garnier and his 
companions. McCarthy, Collins and Rossmussen next 
marched to join the Siamese army which had been sent 
into the districts to the east of the Mekong to subdue 
the Haw; they took part in the fighting, and wit- 
nessed the beginning of the investment of the robber 
stronghold at Tung-Chieng-Kam. Seeing that the siege 
was likely to be a protracted business — in the end the 
Siamese were obliged to raise it — McCarthy presently 
started on a tour in a northerly direction. From Ban 
Le he despatched Rossmussen and the Siamese sick and 
wounded to Luang Prabang, and went on with Collins 
to Muong Son and Muong Kao, intending to visit Muong 
Sop Et, where the Nam Et falls into the Song Ma, the 
more southerly of the two great rivers of Tongking. 
At Muong Kao rafts were made, and the river was 
descended as far as Sop Pon, but McCarthy's native 
companions contrived to prevent him from proceeding 




AuQ:uste Pavie 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 313 

farther down the Nam Et, and the explorers were 
obhged to regain the valley of the Mekong, striking the 
Nam Hu at Muong Ngoi. Collins thence ascended the 
Nam Hu as far as Muong Hahin, within a measurable 
distance of its source, and so added the valley of that 
important tributary of the Mekong to the map of the 
region. McCarthy meanwhile marched over very rough 
country north-north-east to Muong Teng, which is situ- 
ated in a magnificent plain some 60 square miles in ex- 
tent at the head of the valley of the Nam Nua, a left- 
bank tributary of the Nam Hu. On May 26th he started 
down this river on rafts, which he later exchanged for 
boats, and on June ist arrived at Luang Prabang, where 
he found Collins already awaiting him. The travellers 
then returned to Bangkok by McCarthy's former route. 
The siege of the Haw stronghold of Tung-Chieng- 
Kam by the forces of Siam had beeen raised in 1885, 
after the place had been invested for three whole months, 
and in the following year the Government at Bangkok 
decided to make a final effort to suppress the Haw. By 
this time a treaty had been concluded between Great 
Britain and Siam, under the provisions of which a British 
consul was appointed to reside at Chieng Mai. The 
French followed suit by apppointing a consul at Luang 
Prabang, though not a single French subject lived in that 
city or the neighbouring district. The officer selected for 
this latter post was M. Auguste Pavie, whose name was 
destined to become more intimately associated with the 
work of exploration in the valley of the Mekong and its 
neighbourhood than that of any other living European. 
Shortly after the time of the Garnier mission, M. Har- 



314 FURTHER INDIA 

mand had made some detailed explorations in Kambodia 
and in the neighbouring provinces of Batambang and 
Siam-Reap. These had been supplemented by M. Pavie, 
who while in the service of the King of Siam had sur- 
veyed the telegraph line from Bangkok to Batambang. 
He now set off, towards the end of 1885, to take up his 
appointment at Luang Prabang, starting from Bangkok 
in the company of McCarthy, who had with him Collins 
and Louis du Plessis de Richelieu, all three being in the 
service of Siam. At Pak-nam Po McCarthy and Pavie 
separated, each going on independently to Luang Pra- 
bang. McCarthy, who did not wish to interfere with 
the transport arrangements of the Siamese army, which 
was making its way from the valley of the Menam to 
fight against the Haw across the Mekong, ascended the 
. Me-ping to Chieng Mai, and thence struck off in a 
northerly direction to Chieng Rai on the Nam Kok, a 
right-bank tributary of the Mekong. Descending this 
river, he struck the Mekong at Chieng Hsen, and so 
reached Luang Prabang. Thence he immmediately set 
out for Muong Teng, where he joined a wing of the 
Siamese army on December i6th, 1885. It had been his 
intention to make for Muong Lai and to survey the natu- 
ral boundary between the valley of the Mekong and 
Tongking, but Phia Surasak, the Siamese general, pre- 
ferred to send him to Sop Et on the Song Ma, whence he 
was to survey the boundary of the district known as Hua 
Pan Tang Ha Tang Hok, eventually making his way to 
Nong Kai on the Mekong. De Richelieu, falling sick, 
was sent back to Luang Prabang, Collins going with 
McCarthy. An attack of his old enemy, fever, interfered, 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 315 

however, with McCarthy's plans and he was forced to re- 
turn to Luang Prabang and Bangkok. Shortly after- 
wards, the Haw, having got the better of the Siamese 
troops, swooped down upon Luang Prabang, their 
advance meeting with no opposition, and sacked that city. 

In 1887 the French in Tongking made a final effort 
to subdue the outlying provinces, and attacked the 
Haw before the Siamese army under Phia Surasak had 
quitted the valley of the Menam. It was now that Pavie 
began a series of journeys through the country lying 
between the Mekong and Tongking, eventually effecting 
a junction with the French troops in the latter kingdom. 
In 1888 he was joined by Captain Cupet and Lieutenant 
Nicolon, who met him near Luang Prabang just after 
his return from his first journey into Tongking. Nicolon 
was left at Luang Prabang to survey the district, and 
Pavie and Cupet once more set off for Tongking, their 
objective being Tak-Khoa on the Song-Koi. From this 
place Cupet returned to Luang Prabang by a new route, 
and in 1889 he surveyed the country to the eastward of 
the Mekong farther to the south, and explored the whole 
of it from Laos and Kambodia to Annam and the China 
Sea, covering in his journeys across and across the 
country more than 5,500 miles in all. He also in 1888 
travelled on the left bank of the Mekong from Pak Lai 
to Pit Chai on the Menam, surveying the intervening 
country, and in 1893 he, in conjunction with Captain 
Friquegnon and Captain de Malglaive, was appointed to 
edit the great map of Indo-China which has been pre- 
pared under the auspices of M. Pavie. 

Captain de Malglaive, who was also attached at a 



3i6 FURTHER INDIA 

somewhat later period to the " Mission Pavie/' undertook 
an important series of explorations in 1890 and 1891 be- 
tween the coast of central Annam and the Mekong, his 
object being to discover the best means of communica- 
tion through the country. M. Harmand, whose name 
has already been mentioned, had partly explored this 
region between 1875-77, his principal journey in the 
former year being up the Mekong to Khong, and thence 
through the Siamese provinces of Melu-prey, Tonle 
Repu, and Kompang Soai, which had never previously 
been traversed by a European. From the slopes of 
Dongrek to near Prea-khan, he found few Kambodians, 
almost the entire population being composed of Kui 
tribesmen. In 1877 Harmand explored the southern 
basin of the Se-mun, went from Pnom Penh to Siam- 
Reap, and thence cut across to Bassak and the country 
between that place and the Se-Dom. He next explored 
the valley of the Se-Dom as far as Atopeu, a piece of 
work already accomplished to some extent by de Lagree, 
and later made his way from Pnom Penh to Lakon, and 
thence to Nghe An and Binh-Dinh, succeeding in the 
course of his journeys in making some important recti- 
fications in the map of the delta of the Mekong. This 
was the work which Captain de Malglaive now completed, 
crossing the divide between the Mekong and the sea no 
less than five times, and carrying a line of survey over 
this rough tract of country by four separate routes. The 
fruit of his labours was the discovery of an excellent 
route from the coast into the interior by the passage of 
Ai-Lao. 
In 1890-91 Captain Riviere completed some interesting 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 317 

explorations under Pavie in the upper basin of the Me- 
kong, especially in the district to the south-east of Luang 
Prabang, and in 1894 he was attached to the Pavie mis- 
sion for the examination of the upper Mekong in con- 
nection with Sir J. G. Scott's Mekong Commission. 
Riviere, like Henri Mouhot before him, sacrificed his 
life in the cause of exploration, and though his reports 
have since been published by M. Pavie, they do scant 
justice to the work which he performed. Another officer 
attached to the Mission Pavie was M. Lefevre-Pontalis, 
who accompanied M. Pavie on many of his journeys and 
was afterwards attached to the Mekong Commission of 
1894, in the course of which he explored the middle val- 
ley of the Nam Hu, in conjunction with Lieutenant 
Thomassin and Dr. Lefevre, a district which, as we have 
seen, had already been visited and mapped by McCarthy 
and Collins. Other important explorations have also 
been made under the auspices of M. Pavie, but at the 
time of writing the results obtained have not yet been 
published, though all will eventually appear in the monu- 
mental work on French Indo-China edited by M. Pavie, 
five huge quarto volumes of which have already been 
given to the public. The fruit of all these explorations is 
the magnificent large-scale map of Indo-China which has 
now been published by the French Government under 
the editorship already named. It is a monument of 
accurate and patient labour, and not only surpasses any- 
thing of the kind that the British have done for Malaya, 
but compares favourably with the great maps produced 
by the Survey Department of India. 
In 1895 an expedition under Prince Henri of Orleans 



3i8 FURTHER INDIA 

explored the greater portion of the long stretch of the 
Mekong River that lies within the Chinese province of 
Yun-nan, and then turning west made important contri- 
butions to our knowledge of the headwaters of the Ira- 
wadi. The European members of the party included, 
besides Prince Henri, M. Roux, who superintended the 
cartographical work, and M. Briffaud. After penetrating 
to the interior by way of the Red River, the expedition 
struck westwards from Isse, a town north of the French 
frontier, and made its way through unexplored country 
to the Mekong, which was reached at a place called 
Ti-an-pi in 2.2° 38' N. lat. " The river here," says 
Prince Henri, " is from 350 to about 500 feet wide." It 
flows partly between wooded hills whose slopes are less 
steep than those which form the valley of the Red River. 
Rapids render navigation impossible in some places. 
Striking the river from time to time, the expedition 
journeyed northward through the country on the right 
bank of the Mekong as far as 24° 45' N. lat. Here a 
crossing was effected, and the travellers pushed on to 
Ta-li-fu. After a rest at this now well-known stopping- 
place, the expedition again turned west to the Mekong, 
which was reached at Fei-long-kiao, in 25° 50' N. An ex- 
cursion was made still farther west, to the Salwin River, 
and then the expedition ascended the valley of the Me- 
kong, following the course of the river more or less 
closely as far as Tseku, on the Tibetan frontier, north 
of the 28th parallel. During this part of the journey 
the scientific instruments were stolen, and henceforward 
the route could only be laid down by compass. North 
of Tseku the course of the Mekong has been followed 




< 

-a 
o 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 319 

by French missionaries, and at that place the explora- 
tion of the river by Prince Henri's expedition practically 
came to a close, though a trip was made three days' jour- 
ney farther north, to Atense. Once more turning west, 
the expedition made an important journey through dif- 
ficult country to Sadiya, situated at the great bend of the 
Brahmaputra. The passage of this stretch of country 
entailed severe hardships on all concerned, but as a result 
of the journey Prince Henri was led to more than one 
interesting conclusion. In the first place he found the 
Salwin to be, on the same latitude as Tseku, " a large, 
fairly deep river, coming from a long distance," and 
affirmed that missionary and native evidence, coupled 
with the observations of his own expedition, showed the 
Oi Chu of Tibet, the Lu-tze-kiang, and the Salwin, to 
be sections of one and the same river. In the second 
place he reported that the headwaters of the Irawadi 
comprised three main streams, the Kiu-kiang and the 
Telo in the east, and the Nam-kiu in the west. Of these 
the Kiu-kiang has the largest volume of water, " and 
its source is farther north in a well-known mountain in 
Tsarony, two days' journey from Menkong, i.e., 28° or 
29° lat. north. The Telo issues from a mountain that 
we had seen farther south. The mountain out of which 
the Nam-kiu has its source can be seen from Khamti, 
and is well known to the English." On the north the 
whole of the basin of the Irawadi is bounded. Prince 
Henri further declared, by a chain of mountains, form- 
ing apparently a continuation of the Himalaya. These 
mountains are intersected by openings through which 
flow the Dibong and the Lohit. As to the great volume 



320 FURTHER INDIA 

of the Irawadi in its upper reaches, a feature of the river 
which had been of great weight in inducing some geog- 
raphers to support the view that the main sources of the 
Irawadi were to be found far away to the north, in the 
San-po River to Tibet, Prince Henri pointed out that 
this was due to the comparatively wide extent of the 
valley of the Upper Irawadi, the width of which, where 
crossed by the expedition, he set down as 115 miles, 
while in the same latitude the width of the Salwin val- 
ley was not more than 25 miles. If this evidence may 
be accepted, and there is no reason to doubt its accuracy, 
Prince Henri may justly claim that his expedition prac- 
tically solved the problem of the sources of the Irawadi. 
To return for the moment to McCarthy and his work 
in Siam, we find him in 1887 and 1888 engaged upon 
the trace for the now completed railway from Bangkok 
to Korat via Ayuthia, and on a similar trace to Chieng 
Mai via Utarit, on the Menam, and Muong Pre, a Lao- 
tine town on the Nam Yom. In 1890 McCarthy took 
up survey work on the north-west, to delimit the 
boundary between Siam and Burma, but the fact of 
his nationality made him suspect, and he quitted this 
unpleasant task as soon as possible. At the end of 
1890, aided by Siamese surveyors whom he had himself 
trained to the work, he made a series of valuable sur- 
veys in northern Siam, fixing the height of Doi Intanon 
(8,450 feet), a mountain to the west of Chieng Mai, 
which is the highest peak in Siam, and later making a 
trigonometrical station on Pahom Pok, a peak on the 
range which divides Siam from Burma, the summit of 
which was reached after great labour on February 24th, 
1891. 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 321 

This peak had been fixed by the Indian surveyors in 
1889-90, at which period an Anglo-Siamese Commis- 
sion, on which Great Britain was represented by Sir 
James Scott, the Superintendent of the Northern Shan 
States, had dehmited the boundary between Burma and 
Siam. McCarthy therefore took this as his starting- 
point, and from it made his triangulations which were 
the beginning of a trigonometrical survey of northern 
Siam. McCarthy, with a few European assistants, the 
most prominent of whom was Mr. Smiles, yet another 
victim to the work of exploration in these regions, con- 
tinued to push his surveys forward until the middle of 
1893, much help being rendered to him by the native 
surveyors whom he had trained. Shortly after that 
date he was able to publish the first really reliable map 
of the kingdom, which, up to the present time, has re- 
ceived no material additions that have been made public. 
An examination of this map shows that northern Siam, 
Mr. McCarthy's especial sphere of labour, has now been 
carefully and fully explored, as also have a narrow area 
along the valley of the Menam and its branches, and 
the mountain ranges which divide British territory from 
Siam. Eastern Siam, between the lower Menam and 
the Mekong, is far less fully mapped, though all places 
of real importance have been visited and their positions 
fixed. The valley of the Meklong is fairly well known, 
but the rest of lower Siam, south of the Tenasserim, is 
still very imperfectly known, McCarthy's surveys in 
Raman, made in 1883, being the most accurate work of 
the kind yet done in this region. 

It has already been pointed out that, after the war of 



322 FURTHER INDIA 

1885 had at last drawn to a close, the systematic survey 
of Burma and the Shan States under Burmese rule was 
begun. Thus the close of the nineteenth century saw the 
trained surveyor penetrate to the heart alike of the Brit- 
ish, the French, and the Siamese spheres. Indeed it may 
be said that the Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commission 
of 1889-90, the Anglo-French Mekong Commission of 
1894-96, and the Burma-China Boundary Commission of 
1 898- 1 900 — of all of which Sir James Scott was a mem- 
ber — practically completed the work of exploration in 
those regions wherein we have watched the gradual 
growth of discovery from its primitive beginnings. The 
labours of these Commissions cannot be here followed in 
detail. In many cases ground was traversed which had 
already been explored and described by travellers whose 
journeys we have examined; for the rest these Commis- 
sions linked up individual and independent explorations, 
and did the work with an accuracy which had been be- 
yond the reach of earlier geographers. With the era of 
Boundary Commissions much of the adventure, the 
glamour and the romance of exploration inevitably van- 
ishes. Discovery, in the old sense of the word, is at an 
end, and the work, for all its geographical and political 
importance, assumes the more sombre tinge of prosaic 
business, done with comparative ease and comfort in a 
dull, methodical fashion, as business should be done. 
The achievements of these Commissions are best appre- 
ciated by a study of the recent maps of the Indo-Chinese 
Hinterland, which disclose an almost bewildering wealth 
of detail in all the regions under effective European 
domination, that is to say, in every part of it with the 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 3^3 

exception of portions of China and Siam and a few unin- 
habited or sparsely peopled tracts. 

But we have still to review the progress of exploration 
in the Malay Peninsula during the past quarter of a cen- 
tury. It has been noted that up to 1874 the interior was 
practically unknown to Europeans, though Newbolt, 
Crawfurd and Logan had collected a vast quantity of 
information concerning it from native sources. In 1874 
the Sultan of Perak applied for advice and assistance to 
the Governor of the Straits Settlements, and Mr. J. W. 
Birch, Colonial Secretary in Singapore, was sent to re- 
side at his Court. Shortly afterwards the Sultan and 
the rival claimant to the throne settled their differences 
on the grounds of common detestation of the white men, 
and Mr. Birch was treacherously murdered. Upon this 
British troops were landed in Perak, and after a short 
war the Sultan Abdullah was exiled to the Seychelles, 
and his relative Raja Miida Jusuf was made Regent. 
Sir Hugh Low, an officer of great experience of the 
Malays, who had imbibed from the first Raja Brooke 
sound principles on the subject of European responsibili- 
ties towards and methods of governing natives, was 
appointed Resident of Perak, and under his wise and 
tactful guidance complete tranquillity was speedily re- 
stored. 

Prolonged civil war and acts of piracy and aggression 
led to the adoption of a similar policy in Selangor and 
Sungei Ujong — two Native States farther to the south, 
on the western shore of the Peninsula — and in 1887 a 
treaty was entered into with the Sultan of Pahang, on 
the east coast, whereby a British agent, the present writer, 



324 FURTHER INDIA 

was appointed to reside at Pekan, the capital, and was 
invested with consular powers. During the following 
year a British subject, a Chinaman, was murdered at 
Pekan in very unequivocal circumstances, and the British 
Government, considering that the presence of a British 
Resident in Pahang was the only sufficient guarantee for 
the safety of life and property, induced the Sultan to 
place his country under British protection. In 1891 dis- 
turbances broke out in the State, which lasted for some- 
thing over a twelvemonth, by which time the rebel lead- 
ers had been driven to seek refuge over the border in the 
independent States of Trengganu and Kelantan. A raid 
into Pahang headed by these outlaws occurred in 1894, 
and in the following year an expedition, composed of 
irregular native levies under European leadership, was 
sent into Kelantan and Trengganu for the purpose of 
effecting their capture. The ringleaders subsequently 
fell into the hands of the Siamese commissioners sent 
from Bangkok to aid in their arrest, and after one of 
them had been treacherously murdered by Siamese offi- 
cials, the survivors were carried off to Siam. Since that 
time the peace of the British protectorate has not been 
broken. 

It was after the wars in Perak and Sungei Ujong, 
and the bombardment of Kuala Selangor by a British 
ship, that the task of exploring the interior began in ear- 
nest. During the Perak war British troops had ascended 
the river as far as Kota Lama, but though an Italian, 
Mr. Bozzolo, in the service of the Perak Government, 
who had been engaged in mining operations in Petani, 
explored the country from that point to the little State 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 325 

of Raman between 1880 and 1883, it was not until the 
latter year that the Perak River, which had been as- 
cended by the late Sir William Maxwell in 1875, was 
mapped almost to its source, partly by M. St. George 
Caulfield and partly, as we have seen, by Mr. McCarthy. 
A few years prior to this the Peninsula had been crossed 
from Siingei Ujong to the mouth of the Pahang River by 
Messrs. Daly and O'Brien, who had followed the route 
leading over the mountains to the Bra, a right-bank tribu- 
tary of the Pahang. In 1884-85 Mr. William Cameron, 
an explorer in Government employ, made his way from 
the Kinta valley in Perak over the main range into the 
valley of the Telom, one of the upper branches of the 
Pahang River, descended the Telom to its junction with 
the Jelai, and the latter stream to Kuala Tembeling. At 
this point the united waters first take the name of Pa- 
hang, and Cameron continued his descent of that river to 
the sea, making a time and compass survey of his route. 
In 1884 Mr., now Sir Frank, Swettenham, who at that 
time was acting for Sir Hugh Low as Resident of Perak, 
crossed the Peninsula to the mouth of the Pahang with 
Captain Giles, R.A., and the Hon. Martin Lister. The 
route followed was up the Berman River, a stream which 
had been first explored by Sir Frank Swettenham some 
years earlier, and then up its tributary, the Siam. From 
this point the party was conveyed overland by elephants 
to the headwaters of the Lipis, the main right-bank 
tributary of the Jelai. The two rivers flow together 
some twenty miles above Kuala Tembeling, and from 
their confluence the party descended the Pahang River 
to its mouth, and returned to the west coast by sea. 



326 FURTHER INDIA 

Captain Giles somewhat improved upon the time and 
compass survey which had already been made by Mr. 
Cameron. 

A few years before this, a Russian, Baron Mikioucho- 
Maclay, had made his way up the Pahang River to Kuala 
Tembeling, and up that stream to Kuala Sat, whence he 
had walked over the divide into the Lebir valley, one 
of the main branches of the Kelantan River. Such sur- 
veys as he made, however, were very inexact and added 
little to the knowledge of this region which had already 
been obtained from native sources. 

Between 1884 and 1887 a number of speculators were 
busy obtaining concessions from the Sultan of Pahang, 
and the Peninsula was crossed by several of their em- 
ployees from the mouth of the Klang River to the mouth 
of the Pahang, via Kuala Kubu, Raub, and the Lipis val- 
ley, the line of country over which the Selangor railway 
and the Pahang trunk road now pass. In 1887 the 
present writer followed in the steps of Sir Frank Swet- 
tenham, crossing the Peninsula by the Siam route and 
descending the river to the sea, and in the following 
year he undertook an extensive journey through the dis- 
tricts lying on the eastern slope of the main range in 
Pahang territory, rejoining the Pahang River via its 
right-bank tributary, the Semantan. About the same 
time the Peninsula was crossed from Kedah to the mouth 
of the Petani River by several gentlemen interested in 
mining, the first of whom to make a survey of the route 
was the late Mr. H. M. Becher, who in 1895 lost his hfe 
while attempting to make the ascent of Gimong Tahan, 
which is believed to be the highest peak in the Malay 
Peninsula. 




u 



p^ 



{ 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 327 

Meanwhile in Perak, Selangor, and Siingei Ujong, the 
work of detailed survey and exploration was going for- 
ward steadily under the auspices of the local Govern- 
ments, and in 1887 our protectorate was extended to the 
Negri Sembilan, or Nine States, which form the Hinter- 
land of Malacca. Little by little the whole of the coun- 
try on the west coast, from the boundaries of Kedah to 
the Muar River, which is under the jurisdiction of Johor, 
was mapped with considerable accuracy, and this region 
has since been opened up by means of railways and ex- 
cellent roads. On the east coast a similar service was per- 
formed for Pahang, and in 1895 the present writer, while 
leading an armed expedition over the British borders, 
traversed and mapped the whole of the Trengganu val- 
ley from the mountains to the sea, being the first white 
man to cross the Peninsula by this route. Mr. R. W. 
Duff, who accompanied the expedition, added to the map 
the valleys of the Stiu and Besut, two rivers which fall 
into the sea north of Kuala Trengganu, and on the 
same occasion the Lebir and a large part of the Kelan- 
tan River were roughly surveyed. Three years earlier 
Mr. W. W. Bailey had crossed the divide between the 
upper waters of the Jelai and those of the Galas, the 
main branch of the Kelantan, and had descended and 
roughly surveyed the latter river to its mouth. In 1896 
the late Mr. D. H. Wise, while acting as Resident of 
Pahang, reached the divide between the Pahang and 
Kinta Rivers, following in an opposite direction the route 
which twelve years earlier had been traversed by Mr. 
William Cameron. The Kelantan River has since been 
explored in some detail by Mr. R. W. Duff and the gen- 



328 FURTHER INDIA 

tlemen associated with him in the exploitation of the 
mines of Kelantan. 

This brief summary will suffice to convey an idea of 
the extent to which exploration has been carried up to 
the present time in the Malay Peninsula. In the western 
States under British protection the work of survey in 
its rougher stages may be said to have been completed, 
though the trigonometrical work begun in 1883 in Perak 
has made slow progress. On the eastern side, Pahang 
has now been fully, and Trengganu, Kelantan, and Pe- 
tani partially, explored, though even in the first-named 
State there are still large areas of forest which have 
never been penetrated by a white man, and others where 
it is probable that no Malay has ever set foot. The areas 
which have been least adequately explored are the dis- 
tricts under the rule of the Sultan of Johor, which in- 
clude the whole of the southern portion of the Malay 
Peninsula, though the country between the Endau and 
the Pahang Rivers has been visited severally by Mr. 
H. B. Ellerton in 1897, and Mr. E. Townley in 1900. 
Similarly on the north, from Kedah to the Isthmus of 
Kra, and on the east coast above the Petani River, the 
knowledge which we possess of the interior is very im- 
perfect, though the area in question is not great and the 
coast-lines have been determined by Admiralty surveys. 
The Skeat expedition of 1899-1900, though its objects 
were mainly ethnological, added considerably to the de- 
tails in our possession relating to Kelantan, Petani, and 
the neighbouring districts ; but on this occasion compara- 
tively little new ground was broken. 

Gunong Tahan, which, as already stated, is believed to 




H 



FURTHER EXPLORATIONS 319 

be the highest mountain in the Malay Peninsula, is situ- 
ated in the range from which many of the rivers of the 
Jelai and Lebir valleys take their source. Several unsuc- 
cessful attempts were made to reach its summit before 
the feat was accomplished by Mr. Waterstradt in 1901. 
Messrs. Davidson and Ridley tried to effect its ascent 
from the Tembeling side by means of the Tahan River in 
1893, but they were forced to turn back, owing to want of 
sufficient provisions, at a very early stage of their jour- 
ney. Mr. H. M. Becher repeated the attempt, follow- 
ing the same route, in 1894, but he was unfortunately 
drowned in a sudden freshet of the Tahan River before 
he had done more than obtain a distant view of the peak. 
Mr. Skeat made a solitary dash for Gunong Tahan in 
the course of his journey, but he too failed. Mr. Water- 
stradt approached Gunong Tahan from the north, and 
had some difficulty in identifying the mountain. He 
first attempted the ascent from the Pahang side, but 
after climbing 4,000 feet was brought to a stop by a 
sheer wall of rock, down which poured an enormous 
volume of water into the Tahan River. Success, how- 
ever, finally crowned his efforts on the north or Kelantan 
side of the mountain, where the most serious obstacle 
to progress was the dense jungle which is characteristic 
of the surrounding country. According to Mr. Water- 
stradt, Giinong Tahan is less lofty than it was thought 
to be, attaining only from 7,500 to 8,000 feet in height. 

In this chapter we have surveyed the progress of ex- 
ploration in Indo-China, in Siam and in the Malay Penin- 
sula, during the concluding years of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Space has often forbidden a more detailed exami- 



330 FURTHER INDIA 

nation of work, here described in outline, which from its 
intrinsic interest merits more elaborate treatment; but 
it is hoped that sufficient has been said to enable the 
reader to obtain a fair general idea of what has been 
accomplished in these regions. In every case the su- 
premacy of Europeans or the extension of European 
influence, whether in the realm of politics or of ideas, 
has been a necessary prelude to the advancement of 
knowledge. The lands in question have been the homes 
of men of the brown or yellow races, but in every case 
the geographical work done therein has been inspired, if 
not actually executed, by Europeans alone. Science is, 
for the moment, the exclusive possession of the white 
races, and while in many lands men of European breed 
are bringing law and order, peace and plenty, into 
troubled places, that other task of advancing the know- 
ledge of the world proceeds apace, and yearly more and 
more light is made to pierce the darkness which has so 
long obscured our view of the less accessible parts of 
Asia. Precisely what that light has so far revealed will 
be the subject of our next and concluding chapter. 



CHAPTER XIII 

CHRYSE THE GOLDEN AS IT STANDS REVEALED TO-DAY 

THE story of the exploration of south-eastern 
Asia by Europeans — and Europeans, for our 
purposes, are the only true explorers — has now 
been told. We have seen the first dim dawning of the 
idea that the Gangetic Valley was not in truth the most 
easterly limit of the habitable world — that beyond it lay 
other lands, to which distance lent the glamour of mys- 
tery and of romance. We have seen how Chryse the 
Golden, the earliest conception of which was an island 
of paltry extent lying over against the mouths of the 
Ganges, began at last to find a place upon the maps of 
the ancient geographers; how later this germ of truth 
developed into the Golden Chersonese of Ptolemy and 
Marinus of Tyre. Thereafter we have watched the 
growth of knowledge of south-eastern Asia, fostered first 
by the adventurous Arabian and Persian traders, who so 
long held the commercial empire of the East after the 
rise of the Power of Islam, then extended little by little 
by the tales brought home to Europe by the mediaeval 
wanderers of Italy. Next, with the dawning of the six- 
teenth century, came the invasion of the East by the 
Portuguese, the events of which, in so far as they affect 
Chyrse the Golden, have been examined in so much de- 
tail in a section of this work. After that period of 

331 



2,2,^ FURTHER INDIA 

adventure, lawlessne&s and rediscovery of ancient lands 
came the age of the great trading companies of Britain 
and of Holland, an epoch which, though trade reigned 
supreme and political supremacy was sought after as 
merely a road to riches, has a romance of its own because 
of the mighty over-seas empires of which these commer- 
cial ventures were the beginning. Lastly we have traced 
the gradual extension of European influence throughout 
the lands of south-eastern Asia — in Burma, in Malaya, in 
Siam, and in French Indo-China — of all of which to-day 
Siam alone retains its ancient independence, though it too 
has had its administrative system materially altered and 
improved by contact with the nations of the West. It is 
to this last period — the nineteenth century, and more 
especially the concluding half of that century — that the 
detailed exploration of Chryse the Golden belongs, and 
it now remains for us to take a rapid survey of the 
information acquired and of the work which remains to 
be accomplished. 

The coast-line of the great Indo-Chinese peninsula, 
from the mouths of the Ganges to the boundary between 
Tongking and China, has now been surveyed and charted 
with an accuracy that leaves nothing to be desired, and 
the same may be said for almost the whole of the neigh- 
bouring archipelago of Malaya. The outline, as it were, 
has been traced with the utmost exactitude : what is the 
extent to which that outline has been filled in ? 

The most important geographical feature of these lav- 
ishly watered lands is their immense river-systems, and 
it will be convenient, in the first place, to see what is 
the state of our present knowledge with regard to these. 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 333 

The Red River of Tongking, commonly called the 
Song-Koi, but named Song-tao by the Tongkingese, 
was, as we have seen, first descended from Yun-nan by 
the Frenchman Dupuis, who afterwards ascended it with 
a cargo of warlike stores from Hanoi. Its navigability 
for anything bigger than native poling-boats was long 
disputed, but in August, 1890, the steam-launch " Yun- 
nan," drawing 70 centimetres, was taken up as far as 
Laokai, thus proving the practicability of using vessels 
of shallow draught upon the river. As a trade-route, 
however, the Song-Koi is admittedly unsatisfactory, and 
the French Government has decided that railways, not 
rivers, are to be regarded as the only possible means of 
opening up communication with the southern provinces 
of China. The actual sources of the Red River have not 
been located with accuracy, though the main branch is 
believed to take its rise in the mountains to the east of 
King-tung, in Yun-nan, in approximately 24° N. lat. and 
103° E. long. The eastern branch rises partly in the 
mountains between Tongking and Kwang-si, and partly 
in the latter province, while the western branch, the 
Song-Bo, or Black River, has its source in the hills to 
the westward of Tsu-hiung, in Yun-nan. Beyond the 
Tongkingese boundary none of these branches has been 
explored or surveyed in detail for any great portion of 
its course. 

The Song-Ma, the next important river to the south, 
has been traced to its source in the mountains of Uei- 
bak, which divide its basin from that of the Nam U, a 
left-bank tributary of the Mekong which falls into that 
river above Luang Prabang; this was part of the work 



334 FURTHER INDIA 

performed by M. Pavie's mission. Similarly the Song 
Ka, still farther to the south, has been traced to its rise 
in the mountains which divide Tongking from the valley 
of the Mekong. 

We come now to the Mekong itself, the immense river 
with the exploration of which we have been so much 
engaged in the pages of this work. Garnier, it will be 
remembered, arrived unwillingly at the conclusion that 
the Mekong was impracticable for navigation by steam- 
launches above the Khong rapids, but since his day the 
construction of shallow-draught river-craft has under- 
gone an immense development, such as he may well be 
excused for having failed to foresee. The most formid- 
able obstacle in the Sombor flight of rapids was the fall 
known as Preatapang, which Gamier himself had made 
two several attempts to examine, and had pronounced 
impossible for steam-launches. In 1883, however, Cap- 
tain Reveillere succeeded after much difficulty in forcing 
a launch up the flight, and in the course of examinations 
made during 1891 and 1892, Lieutenant Robaglia discov- 
ered a channel some six metres in width which is practic- 
able for steam-launches at all seasons of the year. He 
further discovered that the island of Khon is in fact a 
cluster of small islands, and in one of the channels divid- 
ing these it has been found possible to dig a canal, pro- 
tected by locks, which gives easy access to the river above 
the falls. Steam communication between Saigon and the 
reaches immediately above Khon is thus at last assured. 
In 1893 an expedition under the command of Lieutenant 
Simon and Ensign Le Vay was sent with three steamers, 
the Ham Luong, the Massie and the La Grandiere, to 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 33s 

attempt the navigation of the Mekong as far as Luang 
Prabang. A start was made from Khon, and after a 
short halt at Bassak, Simon and Le Vay reached Vien 
Chan in 15 days with the Ham Luong and the Massie, 
arriving at the ancient capital of Laos on November 27th. 
Two years later, in August and September, 1895, Simon 
took the La Grandiere up-stream to Luang Prabang with- 
out mishap, and thence proceeded as far as Keng Hoi. 
This rapid fairly beat him, and he was forced to return 
to Luang Prabang, but on October 15th he returned to 
the charge, and after five days of incessant struggle suc- 
ceeded in reaching Chieng Khong, having counted no 
fewer than forty-seven rapids on the way, many of which 
he describes as exceedingly dangerous. From Chieng 
Khong he pushed on to Chieng Hsen, above which 
point he found the stream shallow, but much easier 
to navigate, and on October 25th he arrived at Tang- 
Ho, which is distant one day's march from Chieng Lap. 
In 1898 Ensign Mazeran explored the reaches above 
Tang-Ho for a distance of about five and thirty miles, 
and it appears to be probable that launches may yet be 
conveyed up-stream as far as Chieng Hong, the highest 
point on the river attained by McLeod and by the De 
Lagree-Garnier expedition. Up to the present time, the 
distance up-stream which steam-launches have been 
taken by French officers — from the mouth of the Me- 
kong to a point five and thirty miles above Tang-Ho 
— is 1,600 miles. The fact should not be lost sight 
of, however, that this is a feat that cannot be regarded 
as of much practical utility. Even below Luang Pra- 
bang the navigation of the river is fraught with immense 



336 FURTHER INDIA 

difficulty; above that point it is excessively dangerous; 
and therefore it may safely be averred that there is little 
probability of the trade of the Hinterland of Indo-China 
being diverted from its ancient channels by means of a 
steam flotilla plying upon the waters of the Mekong. 

The actual sources of the Mekong are still to some 
extent in doubt, though the upper reaches of the river 
have been explored in some detail by Prjevalsky, by the 
Pundit Krishna who was sent on an exploring expedi- 
tion by the Government of India, by Dutreuil de Rhins 
in 1893, and by Prince Henri of Orleans and Lieutenant 
E. Roux in 1895. The best information at our disposal 
leads to the belief that the main or western branch of 
the river rises on the slopes of Dza-Nag-Lung-Mung in 
about 33° N. lat. and about 93° E. long., at an altitude 
of 16,760 feet above sea-level, close to the point indi- 
cated by Prjevalsky. This stream is called the Lung- 
Mung until it unites its waters with that of the Nor-Pa- 
Chu, when it assumes the name of Dza-Nag-Chu and 
flows through deep ravines, the surrounding country 
being sparsely inhabited by Tibetan Gejis, a wild tribe 
in a primitive state of civilisation. Lower down it 
receives the waters of the Dza-Gar-Chu and is called the 
Dza-Chu, the name by which it is known throughout the 
remainder of its Tibetan course. Immediately below 
this point of junction it forms a rapid of tremendous 
force, its waters flowing so swiftly that even in winter 
no ice is able to form upon them. It is none the less an 
insignificant stream, for lower down, just above the 
monastery of Tachi-Gonpa, the Dza-Chu measures barely 
thirty yards from bank to bank and is less than three 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 337 

feet deep. Its altitude above sea-level at this point is 
14,400 feet. 

Fifty miles lower down the Dza-Chu is joined by a 
torrent called the Pur-Dong-Chu, and thence to Aten-tze 
the river has only been visited by French missionaries; 
it seems probable that its general trend is in a south- 
easterly direction. Dutreuil de Rhins followed its tribu- 
tary, the Dze-Chu, for a distance of between ninety and 
a hundred and fifteen miles, to its source on the slopes 
of a mountain 13,660 feet in height above sea-level; his 
way led through dense forest. 

From Aten-tze, in about 28° 30' N. lat., to Fei-long- 
kiao, in 25° 50' N., the course of the river was explored 
by Prince Henri of Orleans and M. Roux. It is de- 
scribed as broader but very rapid, running through poor 
country with which the Chinese do little or no trade, 
although the region on the left bank is reputed to be 
rich in minerals. At Fei-long-kiao the river-bed is still 
4,000 feet above sea-level. This place is distant only 
some thirty or forty miles from Sa-yang or Sha-yang, 
near where the river has been crossed by several ex- 
plorers, among them the Pundit Krishna. From Loma, 
again, — situated some forty or fifty miles below Sa-yang, 
on the left bank of the river, in 24° 45' N. lat., at an alti- 
tude of 3,600 feet above sea-level — ^to Ti-an-pi — a place 
fifty miles from Chieng Hong, in 22° 38' N. lat., where 
the river-bed is 2,550 feet above sea-level — Prince Henri 
has furnished us with some account of the river. In the 
course of this section of his journey, the French ex- 
plorer struck the Mekong six times. On each occasion 
the river was found flowing through a deep and narrow 



338 FURTHER INDIA 

valley, the banks on either hand rising to a height of 
nearly 4,000 feet. The current was slack, but there were 
numerous difficult rapids, and the stream was crossed 
by two suspension bridges and by a dozen ferries be- 
tween Fei-long-kiao and Ti-an-pi, at each of which a 
custom-house was set for the collection of li-kin. The 
banks of the river were uninhabited and unexplored even 
by the natives of the country, and were only touched by 
the tracks leading to the various ferries and bridges. 
The explorers published a map of this portion of the 
river, according to which the Mekong flows from N. to 
S. from Yerkalo to Sa-yang, with a slight inclination 
to the S.E. below that point, until opposite Loma it is 
nearly W. and E. This part of the map, however, is 
only approximately accurate, having been compiled from 
information gathered from natives of the valley. A lit- 
tle below Loma the Mekong turns sharply to the south, 
and at the ferry at Kali, in 24° N. lat., it is still running 
from N. to S. with a sHght inclination towards the 
S.S.W. From Kali it flows S.S.E. to Chieng Hong. 

" This section of the Mekong,'' writes M. Vivien St. 
Martin, " must be considered not as a trade-route but 
as a barrier to commerce, since each crossing of the river 
necessitates a descent and an ascent of from 3,300 to 
4,400 feet each." 

Here, of course, the river, flowing through Yun-nan, is 
completely Chinese, the only alien element in the region 
being a few Pa-i tribes living in some of the richer val- 
leys, and some Lo-lo, called Lo-kai locally, dwelling in 
some of the hills. 




r * 


g 


h ^ 


c3 


\ 


C 


*.' 


< 


1 


c 




• •— 


k 




1 


CAl 




(U 




u 


> - J 


o 


l£l:^'^ 


fe 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 339 

Between Fei-long-kiao and Chieng Hong the Mekong 
receives numerous tributaries, the Pi-kiang above Sa- 
yang, the Tze-kiang below ; the Yang-pi-kung, which 
falls in near Loma, and the Tong-eul-ho, which flows by 
the town of Pu-cul-fu, a place famous for its teas. All 
these are left-bank tributaries of the river, and on the 
right are the Lau-cho-ho, which joins the Pe-hsiao and 
falls in below Loma opposite to Yung-cheu, the Nam- 
pi-ho or Se-kiang, and the Heu-ho. 

The Mekong — " the Captain of all the Rivers," as 
Linschoten called it — stands revealed to us as the third 
or fourth longest river in Asia and the seventh or eighth 
longest river in the world, flowing from the mountains 
of Tibet, gathering to itself the highland torrents of that 
country and of Yun-nan, running through the Shan 
States and Laos, receiving at each step the waters of 
great streams, and finding the sea at last through the 
mazes of its extensive delta. The length of the river may 
be roughly computed at about 2,800 miles, of which some 
1,600 flow through French territory, and 1,200 through 
portions of the Chinese empire and Tibet. Its explora- 
tion, as we have seen, is mainly a French achievement, 
and it is moreover a work which has been accomplished 
during the last fifty years. The first steps — and the 
first steps are proverbially the most costly — were taken 
by Henri Mouhot and by de Lagree and Francis Garnier, 
but to the roll of fame upon which these names find so 
high a place many others must be added — names fre- 
quently mentioned in these pages, among which, perhaps, 
none have a better right to be remembered than that of 



340 FURTHER INDIA 

M. Pavie, who still lives to carry on his great work of 
revealing to Europeans the secrets of Indo-China. 

The Menam, the great river of Siam, takes its rise in 
the mountains which form the northern boundaries of 
that State. It is no mystery to us, as is still to some ex- 
tent the Mekong in its uttermost reaches, and of its two 
main branches, the Menam and the Me-ping, enough has 
already been said incidentally in the chapters relating to 
the exploration of Siam. Similarly the rivers of the 
Malay Peninsula, fine and imposing though they be as 
they flow majestically through vast regions of forest, 
call for no special attention. They all have their sources 
in the main range of mountains which forms the back- 
bone of the Peninsula, and though the sources of the 
streams on the eastern slope have not yet been adequately 
examined, their approximate positions are known with a 
fair approach to accuracy. 

The next river which demands examination is the 
Salwin, which falls into the Gulf of Martaban near 
Maulmain. Like the Mekong it takes its rise in Tibet, 
but its course is not as thoroughly known as is that of 
the more easterly river. According to Pundit Nain 
Singh, who was sent on an exploring expedition by the 
Indian Government, and to Prjevalsky, it begins as the 
Nap-chu or Nak-chu, which has two branches, the one 
on the west flowing through the province of Gnari, the 
other from the south running through the province of 
Khat-shi. It changes its name with bewildering fre- 
quency, being called the Nap-chu or Nak-chu in Tibet, 
the Khara-Ussu, the Om-chu, Uir-chu, Ghiama Nu-chu, 
Ngeu-kio, Nu-kiang or Nu-chu in Yun-nan, and later 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 341 

the Lu-kiang or Lu-tze-kiang and Li-kiang, and finally 
the Salwin ! The identification of the Lu-tze-kiang with 
the Salwin was established by Desgodins, who followed 
the valley of the river for a distance of 250 miles, and 
was also, as stated in the previous chapter, affirmed by 
Prince Henri of Orleans, who further pronounced him- 
self in favour of the identification of the upper reaches 
of the river with the Oi-chu of Tibet. Sprye and other 
Englishmen surveyed the river from its mouth to a point 
some six hundred miles by river from the coast, and the 
portion of it which flows through British territory is now 
familiarly known. But of its upper reaches no very 
exact data are forthcoming, and it is humiliating to have 
to acknowledge that the work which Frenchmen have 
done for the Mekong has not been accompHshed in like 
measure by Englishmen for the Salwin. 

The Irawadi was supposed at the beginning of the 
eighteenth century to be identical with the Lu-kiang of 
Yun-nan, which, as we have seen, was subsequently 
proved to be the upper portion of the Salwin, and in 
1 73 1 D'Anville promulgated the opinion that the Tsang- 
po of Tibet was the upper part of the Irawadi. Buchanan 
and Dalrymple in 1797 added the weight of their opinion 
to this theory, and more than fifty years later, when the 
same view was advanced by the Roman Catholic mis- 
sionaries in Tibet, it received the qualified approval of 
Colonel Henry Yule. The German Kalproth maintained 
this theory with great insistency, that learned sinologue 
placing undue reliance upon Chinese authorities, but as 
early as 1872 it was traversed by Major Rennell, who 
based his disagreement with the accepted view upon the 



342 FURTHER INDIA 

bulk of the waters of the Brahmaputra, which, he held, 
proved that the river must have its rise somewhere beyond 
the limits of the mountain boundaries of Assam. In 1827 
Wilcox, while engaged in exploring the Brahmaputra, 
crossed the mountains to the south, and located the 
western sources of the Irawadi, striking the river at a 
point where it was little more than eight yards across. 
He was unable to visit the eastern branch of the river, 
but his statements as to its source were subsequently 
confirmed by a planter named Lepper, who had obtained 
a considerable amount of native information on the sub- 
ject. Wilcox's opinion, however, was not immediately 
accepted, and in 1879-80 the Government of India sent 
two native pundits to seek the true sources of the Ira- 
wadi. These men failed in their object, for they did 
not reach the sources, but they brought back with them 
a mass of information collected from natives, all of which 
tended to confirm Wilcox's opinion and to discredit that 
of D'Anville and Kalproth. It is now known that the 
Tsang-po of Tibet is the upper part of the Brahmaputra 
and has no connection with the Irawadi. The sources 
of the Irawadi, which like those of the Salwin are still 
far from being adequately explored, are generally held 
to be situated in the eastern extension of the Himalaya, 
between Assam and the frontiers of China. The valley 
of the Irawadi and those of its principal tributaries in 
British territory have now been explored and surveyed 
with considerable accuracy. 

The mountain system of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, 
as it is now revealed to us, is found to be an extension 
of the great Himalaya range. On the north this forms 




Valley ot the Upper Donnai 



From Courtellement's "Indo-Chine." By permission of 
M. M. Firmin-Didot & Cie.. Paris 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 343 

the range which separates Burma from Assam and 
Manipur, and extends southward in the Yoma-Arakan 
range, which divides Burma from the coast districts of 
Arakan ; the Yoma-Pegu range to the south of Mandalay, 
including the Karini hills ; and the main range of moun- 
tains which runs down the centre of the Malay Penin- 
sula. Eastward the extension of the Himalayas stretches 
away through the highlands of Yun-nan, across which 
Garnier and his fellows laboured and trudged, to the 
Gulf of Tongking, one great offshoot dividing Tong- 
king from the valley of the Mekong. There is also an 
isolated range which runs parallel to the shores of 
French Indo-China, while an offshoot of the mountains 
of the Malay Peninsula forms the northern boundary of 
Siam. The majority of these mountains average some 
three or four thousand feet above the level of the plain, 
running up into peaks which in some instances are as 
much as 13,000 feet in height. In the southern portion 
of the great peninsula the mountains are covered from 
foot to crest by dense forest, but farther north this is 
exchanged for oaks and pines, and many of the hills of 
the far interior are barren of vegetation and are strewn 
with immense boulders. 

The old theory that the rivers of Indo-China had their 
sources in an immense lake has long ago been discred- 
ited, in spite of the fact that the excellent Mendez Pinto 
went out of his way to declare that he had himself vis- 
ited this lake. The lakes of Yun-nan and Tibet are, 
however, a remarkable feature of south-eastern Asia, and 
those of the latter province still remain inadequately 
explored. In Indo-China proper the great lake of Tonle 



544 FURTHER INDIA 

Sap, near the ruins of Angkor, stands without a rival. 
According to Mr. J. S. Black, of the British Consular 
Service in Siam, " this great sea of fresh water, which 
measures nearly lOO miles in length and 20 at its great- 
est breadth, rises no less than 21 feet during the rainy 
season, and floods all the adjoining country for miles. 
In the dry season it is not more than 4 or 5 feet deep, 
and it is at this time, during the months of March, April, 
and May, that the surrounding population flock to its 
shores to catch the numerous fish." It is now recognised 
that the formation of the lake is of comparatively recent 
date. Observations prove that the process of silting all 
along the coast of Indo-China has been effected with 
extraordinary rapidity, and that the whole of the low- 
lying coast-lands to the south of the hills has been 
formed within historical as opposed to geological times. 
The traveller on the Menam River can see, at a point 
some miles above the present capital of Bangkok, unmis- 
takable signs of a river-bar which once existed at that 
spot, where the stream formerly had its outfall into the 
sea. Similarly the entire delta of the Mekong is of 
recent formation, and there is some reason to believe 
that Angkor Thom itself, when first it was founded, was 
a fort. 

Another geographical feature of interest in these 
regions is the Isthmus of Kra, which joins the Malay 
Peninsula to Siam and Tenasserim. The mountain 
chain which, extending in a southerly direction from 
the Himalaya, bisects the Malay Peninsula through its 
entire length, is here broken, and the surveys made by 
the French Government in 1883 disclosed the fact that 



CHRYSE THE GOLDEN 345 

the greatest elevation above sea-level amounted to only 
250 feet. The possibility of cutting a canal across the 
isthmus is therefore rendered possible, but the construc- 
tion of such a work would be very costly, and it is 
certainly altogether opposed to British interests, since 
it would deal a severe blow to the prosperity of Singa- 
pore. With the British in Tenasserim, therefore, it is 
highly improbable that such a work will ever be allowed 
to be put in hand. 

Mention should here be made of yet another geograph- 
ical feature of Indo-China which deserves attention — the 
great plateau which lies between Korat and the valley 
of the Mekong. A full description of this has already 
been given in dealing with the journeys of Mouhot, Gar- 
nier and others, but it may here be noted that this high 
land, with its abrupt " drops " into the flat plains of the 
coast-regions, marks, in all probability, an ancient sea- 
board whence the waters have receded as more and more 
land was won by the action of the rivers. 

Our task is now completed: the tale is told, and 
Chryse the Golden stands revealed to us, robbed of its 
magic and its mystery, just a common fragment of the 
earth upon which we also tread. It has still a few, a 
very few, secrets left for discovery by the adventure- 
some — the actual sources of the Salwin and the Irawadi 
among the number ; but for the rest it has been traversed 
again and again by alien explorers, and a man must go 
far afield indeed if to-day he would break new ground. 
The geographer has done his work, and has done the 
most of it in less than a century of time; and it remains 



346 FURTHER INDIA 

for the scientist and the ethnologist — above all the eth- 
nologist — to complete the task. More than this, Chryse 
is held to-day almost wholly by the nations of the West : 
by Great Britain and by France ; the welfare of its peo- 
ples are in the keeping of strangers, who have already 
done much to bring peace and plenty to these troubled 
lands. Much more, however, still awaits the doing, 
for the white nations have not yet discovered the secret 
whereby the subject peoples may be preserved from the 
action of that swift degeneracy which too often follows 
on the heels of civilisation. In the past the East has 
suffered much at the hands of Europeans, and the bur- 
den of our sins should press sorely upon us. The age 
of frank brutality has passed away for ever, and has 
been replaced by an age of philanthropy and humanita- 
rianism. Of old, white men wrought greatly and meant 
ill ; now the position is reversed, — we work on a smaller 
scale and with a host of the best intentions. The future 
alone can decide whether the nations of Europe, Eng- 
land, France, Holland, and now also the United States 
— ^the white peoples who have assumed the responsibility 
for ordering the destinies of the East — will prove them- 
selves equal to the task of making full amends for all 
the evil that was done in Asia by folk of their blood in 
centuries which have passed away. 



APPENDIX 

LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS RELATIVE 
TO FURTHER INDIA 

PuRCHAs HIS PiLGRiMES. 4 vols. (Parts.) Map and illustra- 
tions. Folio. London, 1625. 

Pinto, Fernand Mendez. The Voyages and Adventures of 
Fernand Mendez Pinto, a Portugal, during his Travels for 
the spaces of one and twenty years in the Kingdoms of 
Ethiopia, China, Tartaria, Cauchin-China, Calaminham, Siam, 
Pegu, Japan, and a great part of the East-Indaes. 4to. Lon- 
don, 1653. 

Voyage de Siam, des Peres Jesuites; avec leurs observations 
Astronomiques, et leurs remarques de Physique, de Geo- 
graphie, d'Hydrographie, et d'Histoire. Plates. Sm. 4to. 
Paris, 1686. 

Dampier, Capt. William. A New Voyage round the World, 
describing particularly the Isthmus of America. Maps. 8vo. 
London, 1697. 

Harris, John. Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca ; or, 
a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. 2 vols. 
Maps, portraits and plates. Folio. London, 1705. 

Renneville, R. a. Constantin de. Recueil des Voyages qui ont 
servi a I'Establissement et aux Progrez de la Compagnie des 
Indes Orientales, formee dans les Provinces-Unies des Pais- 
Bas. Nouvelle edition. 10 vols. Plates. i2mo. Rouen, 

1725. 
Hamilton, Capt. Alexander. A new Account of the East In- 
dies. 2 vols. Maps and plates. Svo. Edinburgh, 1727. 
347 



348 APPENDIX 

AsTLEY, Thomas. New General Collection of Voyages and 
Travels. 4 vols. Maps and plates. 4to. London, 1745-47. 

A General Collection of Voyages and Discoveries made by 
THE Portuguese and the Spaniards during the Fifteenth 
and Sixteenth Centuries. Map and plates. 4to. London, 
1789. 

Symes, Major M. Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of 
Ava in 1795. Maps and plates. 4to. London, 1800. 

Pinkerton, John. A General Collection of the best and most 
interesting Voyages and Travels in all Parts of the World. 
17 vols. Maps and plates. 4to. London, 1808-14. 

Fitch, Ralph, the long, dangerous, and memorable Voyage of, 
by the way of Tripolis in Syria, to Ormuz, Goa in the East 
Indies, Cambaia, the River Ganges, Bengala, Bacola, Chon- 
deri, Pegu, Siam, etc., begunne in 1583 and ended in 1591. 
(Hakluyt, R., "The Principal Navigations," etc.. Vol. 2.) 
London, 1809. 

ipREDERicK, Cesar. Voyage of Master Cesar Frederick into the 
East India and beyond the Indies, 1563. (Hakluyt, R., 
"The Principal Navigations, etc., Vol. 2.) London, 1809. 

Laharpe, J. F. Abrege de I'Histoire Generale des Voyages. 
24 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1816. 

Cox, Capt. H. Journal of a Residence in the Burmhan Empire, 
and more particularly at the Court of Amarapoorah. Plates. 
Svo. London, 182 1. 

Finlayson, G. The Mission to Siam, and Hue, the Capital of 
Cochin-China, in 1821-22. From the Journal of the late G. 
Finlayson; with a Memoir of the Author by Sir T. Stam- 
ford Raffles. Plate. 8vo. London, 1826. 

Crawfurd^ John. Journal of an Embassy from the Governor- 
General of India to the Court of Ava in 1827; with an Ap- 
pendix containing a Description of Fossil Remains, by Pro- 
fessor Buckland and Mr. Clift. Map and plates. 4to. Lon- 
don, 1829. 



APPENDIX 349 

Ibn Batuta, The Travels of, in Asia and Africa, 1324-25. 
Translated from the abridged Arabic MS. copies preserved 
in the Public Library of Cambridge; with Notes illustrative 
of the History, Geography, Botany, Antiquities, etc., oc- 
curring throughout the work. By the Rev. S. Lee. 4to. 
London, 1829. 

RfiMUSAT, J. P. Abel. Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiques, ou Re- 
cueil de Morceaux de Critiques et de Memoires relatifs aux 
Religions, aux Sciences, aux Coutumes, a I'Histoire et a la 
Geographic des Nations Orientales. 2 vols. Map. 8vo. 
Paris, 1829, 

Lives and Voyages of Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier; includ- 
ing an Introductory View of earlier Discoveries in the South 
Sea, and the History of the Buccaneers. Portraits. i6mo. 
Edinburgh, 183 1, 

Wilcox, Lieut, R. Memoir of a Survey of Assam and the 
Neighbouring Countries, executed in 1825-6-7-8, Map, 4to,' 
Calcutta, 1832. 

Richardson, Dr. D. Journal of a March from Ava to Kendat, 

on the Khyen dwen River, performed in 183 1 under the 

orders of Major H, Burney, the Resident at Ava. (Journal 

of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 2, p. 59.) 8vo. Cal- 

■ cutta, 1833. 

Sangermano, Rev. Father, Description of the Burmese Em- 
pire, compiled chiefly from Native Documents; translated 
from the MS, by W, Tandy. (Oriental Translation Fund,) 
4to. 1833. 

Grant, Capt. F. T. Extract from a Journal kept by Captain F. 
T. Grant, of the Manipur Levy, during a Tour of Inspection 
of the Manipur Frontier, along the course of the Ningthee 
River, etc., in January, 1832. (Journal of the Asiatic So- 
ciety of Bengal, Vol. 3, p. 124.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1834. 

Burney, Lt.-Col. H. Notice of Pugan, the Ancient Capital of 



350 APPENDIX 

the Burmese Empire. (Journal of the Asiatic Society of 
Bengal, Vol. 4, p. 400.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1835. 

Pemberton, Capt. R. Boileau. Report on the Eastern Frontier 
of British India; with an Appendix; and a Supplement by 
Dr. Bayfield on the British Political Relations with Ava. 
Maps. Svo. Calcutta, 1835. 

Richardson, Dr. D. An account of some of the Petty States 
lying north of the Tenasserim Provinces ; drawn up from the 
Journals and Reports of D. Richardson. By E. A. Blundell. 
(Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 5, 1836, pp. 
601-625, 688-707.) Map and plate. 8vo. Calcutta. 

Burney, Lt.-Col. H. Some Account of the. Wars between Bur- 
mah and China, together with the Journals and Routes of 
three different Embassies sent to Pekin by the King of Ava ; 
taken from Burmese documents. (Journal of the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, Vol. 6, pp. 121, 405, 542.) 8vo. Calcutta, 
1837. 

McLeod, Capt. T. E. Abstract Journal of an Expedition to 
Kiang Hung on the Chinese Frontier, starting from Moul- 
mein on the 13th December, 1836. (Journal of the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, Vol. 6, p. 989.) 8vo, Calcutta, 1837. 

Hannay, Capt. S. F. Abstract of the Journal of a Route 
travelled by Capt. S. F. Hannay, of the 40th Regiment 
Native Infantry, from the Capital of Ava to the Amber 
Mines of the Hukong Valley on the south-east frontier of 
Assam. By Capt. R. Boileau Pemberton. (Journal of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 6, p. 245.) 8vo. Calcutta, 

1837. 

Richardson, Dr. D. Abstract Journal of an expedition from 
Moulmein to Ava through the Kareen country, between De- 
cember, 1836, and June, 1837. (Journal of the Asiatic So- 
ciety of Bengal, Vol. 6, 1837, pp. 1005-1022.) Svo. Calcutta, 

Malcolm, Rev. H. Travels in South-Eastern Asia, embracing 



APPENDIX 351 

Hindustan, Malaya, Siam, and China; with Notices of 

numerous Missionary Stations, and a full account of the 

Burman Empire. 2 vols. Map. 8vo. London, 1839. 
Newbold, Capt. T. J. Political and Statistical Account of the 

British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, viz. : Pinang, 

Malacca, and Singapore; with a History of the Malayan 

States of the Peninsula of Malacca. 2 vols. Maps. Svo, 

London, 1839. 
Richardson, Dr. D. Journal of a Mission from the Supreme 

Government of India to the Court of Siam. (Journal of the 

Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 8, p. 1016; 9, pp. i, 219.) 8vo. 

Calcutta, 1839-1840. 
Lafond de Lurcy, Capt. G. Voyages autour du Monde, et Nau- 

frages celebres. 8 vols. Portrait and plates. Rl. 8vo. 

Paris, 1844. 
Wood, B. Extracts from a Report of a Journey into the Naga 

Hills in 1844. (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 

Vol. 13, p. 771.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1844. 
Reinaud, J. T. Relation des Voyages faits par les Arabes et 

les Persans dans I'lnde et a la Chine dans le 9e Siecle. 

2 vols. i6mo. Paris, 1845. 
Aboulfeda, Geographie de. Traduite de l'Arabe . . . par 

M. Reinaud. Vol. i, and Vol. 2, Part i. 2 vols. Maps. 

4to. Paris, 1848. 

Ditto. Tome 2. Seconde partie. 4to. Paris, 1883. 

Logan, J. R. Sketch of the Physical Geography and Geology 

of the Malay Peninsula. (Journal Indian Archipelago, Vol. 

2, pp. 83-138.) 8vo. Singapore, 1848. 
Logan, J. R. Journal of a Voyage to the Eastern Coast and 

Islands of Johore. (Journal Indian Archipelago, Vol. 2, pp. 

616-624.) 8vo. Singapore, 1848. 
Favre^ Rev. P. A Journey in Johore. (Journal Indian Archi- 
pelago, Vol. 3, pp. 50-64.) Svo. Singapore, 1849. 



352 APPENDIX 

Favre^ Rev. P. A Journey in the Menangkabau States of the 
Malay Peninsula. (Journal Indian Archipelago, Vol. 3, pp. 
153-161.) 8vo. Singapore, 1849. 

O'RiLEY^ E. Rough Notes on the Geological and Geographical 
Characteristics of the Tenasserim Provinces. (Journal In- 
dian Archipelago, Vol. 3, pp. 385-401.) 8vo. Singapore, 

1849. 

O'RiLEY^ E. Notes on the Tract of Country lying between the 
head of the Zimmi River and the Source of the Kaundran, 
adjacent to the Siamese border Province of Ryout Raung. 
(Journal Indian Archipelago, Vol. 4, pp. 164-168.) 8vo. 
Singapore, 1850. 

Neale, F. a. Narrative of a Residence at the Capital of the 
Kingdom of Siam, with a Description of the Manners, Cus- 
toms, and Laws of the Modern Siamese. Map and illustra- 
tions. London, 1852. 

Earl, G. W. Contributions to the Physical Geography of South- 
eastern Asia and Australia. (Journal Indian Archipelago, 
Vol. 6, pp. 243-277; N. S., Vol. 2, pp. 278-286.) Maps. 8vo. 
Singapore, 1852, 1858. 

Drake, Sir Francis. The World Encompassed; being his next 
Voyage to that to Nombre de Dios. Collated with an un- 
published Manuscript of Francis Fletcher, with Appendices 
illustrative of the same Voyage, and Introduction, by W. S. 
W. Vaux. (Hakluyt Society's publications. Vol. 16.) 8vo. 
London, 1854. 

Pallegoix, Mgr. Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam, com- 
prenant la Topographic, Histoire Naturelle, Moeurs et Cou- 
tumes, Legislation, Langue, etc. 2 vols. Map and plates. 
i2mo. Ligny, 1854. 

Crawfurd, J. A. Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands 
and adjacent Countries. Map. 8vo. London, 1856. 

Parkes, H. Geographical Notes on Siam, with a New Map of 



APPENDIX 3S3 

the Lower Part of the Menam River. (Journal of the Royal 
Geographical Society, Vol. 26, 1856, pp. 71-78, map.) 8vo. 
London. 

Smith, Dr. William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geogra- 
phy. 2 vols. Wood cuts. Svo. London, 1856-7. 

Yule, Col. Sir Henry. Narrative of Major Phayre's Mission 
to the Court of Ava; with Notices of the Country, Govern- 
ment, and People; and Notes on the Geological Features of 
the Banks of the River Irawadee, and of the Country north 
of the City of Amarapoora, by Thomas Oldham. Maps and 
plates. 4to. Calcutta, 1856. 

BowRiNG, Sir J. The Kingdom and People of Siam, with a 
Narrative of the Mission to that country in 1855. Map, fac- 
similes, and plates. 2 vols. Svo. London, 1857. 

India in the Fifteenth Century; being a Collection of Narra- 
tives of Voyages to India in the Century preceding the 
Portuguese Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, from 
Latin, Persian, Russian, and Italian sources, translated into 
English. Edited, with an Introduction, by R. H. Major. 
(Hakluyt Society's publications, Vol. 22,) Svo. London, 
1857. Contains, among other matters, Nicolo Conti's 
"Travels in the East, in the early part of the Fifteenth 
Century." 

Yule, Capt. H. On the Geography of Burma and Its Tributary 
States, in illustration of a New Map of those Regions. (Jour- 
nal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 27, pp. 54-108.) 
Map. Svo. London, 1857. * 

Yule, Col. Sir H. Narrative of the Mission sent by the Gov- 
ernor-General of India to the Court of Ava in 1855; with 
Notices of the Country, Government, and People. Maps and 
plates. 4to. London, 1858. 

O'Riley, E. Journal of a Tour to Karen Nee for the purpose 
of opening a trading-road to the Shan Traders from Mobyay 



354 APPENDIX 

and the adjacent Shan Territory direct to Toungoo. (Jour- 
nal of the Indian Archipelago, N. S., Vol. 2, pp. 391-457- ) 
8vo. Singapore, 1858. (Also Journal of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society, Vol. 32, pp. 164-216.) Notes. Map. 
8vo. London, 1862. 

TiCKELL, LiEUT.-CoL. S. R. Itinerary, with Memoranda, chiefly 
Topographical and Zoological, through the southerly por- 
tions of the district of Amherst, province of Tenasserim. 
(Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 28, p. 421.) 
8vo. Calcutta, 1859. 

Campbell, James. Notes on the Antiquities, Natural History, 
etc., etc., of Cambodia, compiled from Manuscripts of the late 
E. F. J. Forrest, and from information derived from the 
Rev. Dr. House, etc., etc. (Journal of the Royal Geographical 
Society, Vol. 30, i860, pp. 182-198.) 8vo. London. 

King, D. O. Travels in Siam and Cambodia. (Journal of the 
Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 30, i860, pp. 177-182, map.) 
. 8vo. London. 

Des Mazures, Very Rev. Thomine. Memorandum on the 
Countries between Thibet, Yunan, and Burmah. With Notes 
and a Comment by Lieut.-Col. H. Yule. (Journal of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 30, p. 367.) 8vo. Calcutta, 
1861. 

Schomburgk, Sir R. H. Boat Excursion from Bangkok, in Siam, 
to the Pechaburri, on the Western Shore of the Gulf of Siam. 
(Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 31, pp. 302- 
321.) 8vo. London, 1861. 

Sprye, Capt. R., and R. H. F. Sprye. Communication with the 
South-West Provinces of China from Rangoon in British 
Pegu. (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 
5, PP- 45-47-) Map. 8vo. London, 1861. 

Schomburgk, Sir R. H. Travels in Siam. (Proceedings of the 
Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 5, pp. 118-119.) 8vo. Lon- 
don, 1861. 



APPENDIX 355 

MouHOT_, H. Notes on Cambodia, the Lao Country, etc. (Jour- 
nal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 32, pp. 142-163.) 
Map. 8vo. London, 1862. 

The Travels of Ludovica di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, 
Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and 
Ethiopia, 1503 to 1508. Translated from the Italian edition 
of 15 10, with a Preface by J. Winter Jones, and edited, with 
Notes and an Introduction, by G. Percy Badger. (Hakluyt 
Society's publications. Vol. 32.) Map. 8vo. London, 1863. 

ScHOMBURGH, SiR R. H. A visit to Xiengmai, the principal city 
of the Laos or Shan States. (Journal of the Asiatic Society 
of Bengal, Vol. 32, p. 387.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1863. 

Stevenson, Capt. J. F. Account of a visit to the Hot Springs 
of Pai in the Tavoy District. (Journal of the Asiatic Society 
of Bengal, Vol. 32, p. 383.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1863. 

MouHOT, H. Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China 
(Siam), Cambodia, and Laos during 1858-60. 2 vols. Map 
and plates. 8vo. London, 1864. 

Williams, Dr. C. Extract from Journal of a Trip to Bhamo. 
(Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 33, p. 189.) 
8vo. Calcutta, 1864. 

Williams, Dr. C. Memorandum on the Question of British 
Trade with Western China via Burmah. (Journal of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 33, P- 407- ) 8vo. Calcutta, 
1864. 

Bastian, Dr. A. A visit to the Ruined Cities and Buildings of 
Cambodia. (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 
35, pp. 74-87.) Map. 8vo. London, 1865. 

Parish, Rev. C. Notes of a Trip up the Salween. (Journal of 
the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 34, pt. H, i35-) 8vo. 
Calcutta, 1865. 

Williams, J. M. Memorandum on Railway Communication 
with Western China and the intermediate Shan States from 



3S6 APPENDIX 

the Port of Rangoon in British Burma. Map. Folio. Lon- 
don, 1865. 
A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in 

THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CeNTURY, by DuartC 

Barbosa, a Portuguese. Translated from an early Spanish 
Manuscript in the Barcelona Library, with Notes and a 
Preface, by the Hon. Henry E. J. Stanley. (Hakluyt So- 
ciety's publications, Vol. 35.) 8vo. London, 1866. 

Cathay and the Way Thither ; being a Collection of Medieval 
Notices of China. Translated and edited by Col. H. Yule 
. . . with Essay on the Intercourse between China and 
the West previous to the Discovery of the Cape Route. 
(Hakluyt Society's publications. Vols. 36 and 37.) 2 vols. 
8vo. London, 1866. 

Kennedy, H. G. Report of an Expedition made into Southern 
Laos and Cambodia in the early part of the year 1866. 
(Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 37, pp. 298- 
. 327.) Map. 8vo. London, 1867. 

Thomson, John. The Antiquities of Cambodia : a series of 
Photographs taken on the spot, with Letterpress descrip- 
tion. Oblong 4to. Edinburgh, 1867. 

Williams, J. M., and C. H. Luard. Copies of the Survey Re- 
port, dated the 15th June, 1867, and of the Journals, Maps, 
Sections, etc., attached thereto, respecting Rangoon and 
Western China, etc. Folio. London, 1867. 

The Philippine Islands, Moluccas, Siam^ Cambodia, Japan, 
AND China, at the Close of the Sixteenth Century, by 
Antonio de Morga. Translated from the Spanish, with 
Notes and a Preface, and a Letter from Luis Vaez de Torres 
describing his Voyage through the Torres Straits, by the 
Hon. Henry E. J. Stanley. (Hakluyt Society's publications, 
Vol. 39.) Maps and plate. 8vo. London, 1868. 

Pundit . Report of a Route-Survey made by Pundit , 



APPENDIX 357 

from Nepal to Lhasa, and thence through the Upper Valley 
of the Brahmaputra to its Source. By Capt. T. G. Mont- 
•gomerie. (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 
38, pp. 129-219.) Map. 8vo. London, 1868. 

Williams, Clement. Through Burmah to Western China; be- 
ing Notes of a Journey in 1863 to establish the practica- 
bility of a Trade-Route between the Irawaddi and the Yang- 
tse-Kiang. Map and plates. 8vo. London, 1868. 

Cooper, T. T. Letter from, on the Course of the Tsan-po and 
Irrawaddy and on Tibet. (Proceedings of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society, Vol. 13, pp. 392-393.) Map. 8vo. London, 
1869. 

Jenkins, H. L. Notes on the Burmese Route from Assam to 
the Hookoong Valley. (Proceedings of the Royal Geograph- 
ical Society, Vol. 13, pp. 244-248.) 8vo. London, 1869. 

Macleod, W. C, and Richardson, Dr. D. Copy of Papers relat- 
ing to the Route of Capt. W. C. Macleod from Moulmein 
to the Frontiers of China, and to the Route of Dr. Richard- 
son on his Fourth Mission to the Shan Provinces of Burmah, 
or Extracts from the same. Map. Folio. London, 1869. 

Direct Commerce with the Shan States and West of China, 
BY Railway from Rangoon to Kian-Hung, on the Upper 
Kamboja River, on the South-West Frontier of China. 
Memorial from the Wakefield Chamber of Commerce to the 
Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury. 8vo. London, 1869. 

The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama and his Vice- 
royalty, from the Lendas da India of Caspar Correa. . . . 
Translated from the Portuguese, with Notes and an Intro- 
duction, by the Hon. Henry E. J. Stanley. (Hakluyt So- 
ciety's publications, Vol. 42.) Portrait, plate, etc. 8vo. 
London, 1869. 

Anderson, Dr. J. The Irawady and its Sources. (Journal 
of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 40, pp. 286-303.) 8vo. 
London, 1870. 



3S8 APPENDIX 

Anderson, John. A Report on the Expedition to Western 
Yunan via Bhamo. Royal 8vo. Calcutta, 1871. 

Cooper, T. T. Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce in Pigtail and 
Petticoats; or An Overland Journey from China towards 
India. Map and plate. 8vo. London, 1871. 

Garnier, F. Voyage lointain aux Royaumes de Cambodge et 
Laouwen par les Neerlandais et ce qui s'y est passe jusqu'en 
1644. (Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic, Paris, 1871(2), 
pp. 249-289.) 8vo. Map. 

Marco Polo. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, con- 
cerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. Newly 
translated and edited, with Notes, etc., by Colonel Henry 
Yule. 2 vols. Maps and plates. 8vo. London, 1871. 

' Ditto. Third edition, revised throughout in the light of 

recent discoveries, by Henri Cordier (of Paris). With a 
Memoir of Henry Yule by his daughter, Amy Frances Yule. 
2 vols. London, 1903. 

Sladen, Sir E. B. Copy of Major Sladen's Report on the 
Bhamo Route: Official Narrative of the Expedition to ex- 
plore the Trade Routes to China via Bhamo, under the 
guidance of Major E. B. Sladen, Political Agent, Mandalay; 
with connected papers. Map. (Parliamentary Report.) 
Folio. London, 1871. 

Sladen, Major E. B. Expedition from Burma, via the Irra- 
waddy and Bhamo, to South- Western China. (Journal 
of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 41, pp. 257-281.) 
Map. 8vo. London, 1871. 

Peal, S. E. Notes on a Visit to the Tribes inhabiting the Hills 
South of Sibsagar, Assam. (Journal of the Asiatic Society 
of Bengal, Vol. 41, pt. I, 9.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1872. 

Bayfield, G. T. Narrative of a Journey from Ava to the Fron- 
tiers of Assam, and back, performed between December, 1836, 
and May, 1837. (Selections of Papers regarding the Hill 



APPENDIX 359 

Tracts between Assam and Burmah, and on the Upper 
Brahmaputra, Vol. 5.) Large 8vo. Calcutta, 1873. 

Cooper,, T. T. The Mishmee Hills : An Account of a Journey 
made in an Attempt to Penetrate Thibet from Assam to 
open new routes for Commerce. Map and plates. i2mo. 
London, 1873. 

Garnier, F. Voyage d'Exploration en Indo-Chine, effectue 
pendant les annees 1866, 1867, et 1868, etc. 2 vols. Maps 
and plates, and Atlas folio. 4to. Paris, 1873. 

Griffith, W. Journey from Upper Assam towards Hookhoom, 
Ava, and Rangoon. (Selections of Papers regarding the 
Hill Tracts between Assam and Burmah, and on the Upper 
Brahmaputra, Vol. 4.) Large 8vo. Calcutta, 1873. 

Jenkins, H. L. Notes on a Trip across the Patkoi Range from 
Assam to the Hookoong Valley, in 1869-70. (Selections of 
Papers regarding the Hill Tracts between Assam and Bur- 
mah, etc., Vol. 6.) Large 8vo. Calcutta, 1873. 

Jenkins, H. L. Notes on the Burmese Route from Assam to 
Hookoong Valley. (Selections of Papers regarding the Hill 
Tracts between Assam and Burmah, etc.. Vol. 7.) Large 
8vo. Map. Calcutta, 1873. 

Selections of Papers regarding the Hill Tracts between As- 
sam AND Burmah, and on the Upper Br^^^hmaputra. 
Large 8vo. Calcutta, 1873. 

The First Voyage Round the World, by Magellan. Translated 
from the Accounts of Pigafetta and other contemporary 
writers, accompanied by Original Documents, with Notes 
and an Introduction, by Lord Stanley of Alderley. (Hak- 
luyt Society's publications, Vol. 52.) Portrait, map, etc. 
8vo. London, 1874. 

McMahon, Lieut.-Col. A. P. On Our Prospects of Opening 
a Route to South- Western China, and Explorations of the 
French in Tonquin and Cambodia. (Proceedings of the 



36o APPENDIX 

Royal Geographical Society, Vol. i8, pp. 463-467.) 8vo. 
London, 1874. 

The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalbo<3uerque, Sec- 
ond Viceroy of India. Translated from the Portuguese 
edition of 1774, with Notes and an Introduction, by Walter 
de Gray Birch. 4 vols. (Hakluyt Society's publications, 
Vols. 53, 55, 62, 69.) Maps and plates. 8vo. London, 1875, 
1877, 1880, 1884. 

Coryton, J. Trade Routes between British Burmah and Western 
China. (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 45, 
pp. 229-249.) Map. 8vo. London, 1875. 

Margary, a. R. Extracts of Letters from Mr. Margary. (Pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 19, pp. 288- 
291.) 8vo. London, 1875. 

Thomson, John. The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and 
China; or. Ten Years' Travels, Adventures, and Residence 
abroad. Plates. 8vo. London, 1875. 

Anderson, John. Mandalay to Momein: A Narrative of the 
Two Expeditions to Western China of 1868 and 1875, under 
Colonel Edward B. Sladen and Colonel Horace Browne. 
Maps and plans. 8vo. London, 1876. 

Desgodins^ l'Abbe. Le cours superieur des fleuves de I'lndo- 
Chine. (Bulletin Societe de Geographic (6 S.), T. 12, pp. 
202-205.) 8vo. Paris, 1876. 

Desgodins, l'Abbe. Pays frontieres du Thibet, de la Birmanie 
et du Yun-nan. (Bulletin Societe de Geographic (6 S.), T. 
12, pp. 401-412.) 8vo. Paris, 1876. 

Desgodins, l'Abbe. Notes geologiques sur la route de Yerkato 
a Pa-tang. (Bulletin Societe de Geographic (6 S.), T. 12, 
pp. 492-508.) 8vo. Paris, 1876. 

Harmand, Dr. Voyage au Cambodge. (Bulletin Societe 

de Geographic (6 S.), T. 12, pp. 337-367.) Map. 8vo. 
Paris, 1876. 



APPENDIX 361 

Margary, a. R. The Journey of, from Shanghai to Bhamo, and 
back to Manwyne . . . with Concluding Chapter by Sir 
Rutherford Alcock. Map and portrait. 8vo. London, 1876. 

Margary, a. R. Extracts from the Diary of the late Mr. Mar- 
gary, from Hankow to Tali-fu [and Extracts from his sub- 
sequent Letters]. (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical 
Society, Vol. 20, pp. 184-215.) 8vo. London, 1876. 

Papers connected with the Development of Trade between 
British Burmah and Western China, and with the Mis- 
sion TO Yunnan of 1874-75. Folio. London, 1876. 

Desgodins, l'Abbe. Territoire de Bathang. Notes. (Bulletin 
Societe de Geographic (6 S.), T. 12, pp. 614-625.) 8vo, 
Paris, 1876. 

CoTTAM, H. Overland Route to China, via Assam, Tenga Pani 
River, Khamti, and Singphoo Country, across the Irrawaddl 
River into Yunan. (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical 
Society, Vol. 21, pp. 590-595.) 8vo. London, 1877. 

Dupuis, J. Voyage au Yiin-nan. (Bulletin Societe de Geog- 
raphic (6 S.), T. 14, pp. 5-57, 151-185, map.) 8vo. Paris, 

1877. 

Harmand, Dr. J. Les iles re Poulo-Condor, le haut Don-nai 
et ses habitants. Rapport adresse au president de la So- 
ciete. (Bulletin Societe de Geographic (6 S.), T. 13, pp. 
523-534-) 8vo. Paris, 1877. 

Harmand, Dr. J. Notes sur les provinces du bassin meridional 
du Se Moun (Laos et Cambodge Siamois). (Bulletin So- 
ciete de Geographic (6 S.), T. 14, pp. 225-238. Map.) 8vo. 
Paris, 1877. 

Harmand, Dr. J. Excursion de Bassac a Attopen. (Bulletin 
Societe de Geographic (6 S.), T. 14, pp. 239-247.) 8vo, 
Paris, 1877. 

Mikloukho-Maklai, . Voyage de, dans la Presqu'ile de 

Malaisie. Lettre au Secretaire de la Societe russe de geogra- 



362 APPENDIX 

phie. (Bulletin Societe de Geographic (6 S.), T. 13, pp. 
424-427, map.) 8vo. Paris, 1877. 
The Voyages of Sir James Lancaster, Kt., to the East Indies, 
with Abstracts of Journals of Voyages to the East Indies 
during the Seventeenth Century, preserved in the India 
Office; and the voyage of Capt. John Knight (1606) to seek 
the North-West Passage. Edited by Clements R. Markham. 
(Hakluyt Society's publications, Vol. 56.) Svo. London, 

1877. 

Fytche, Colonel A. Burma, Past and Present, with Personal 
Reminiscences of the Country. 2 vols. Map and plates. Svo. 
London, 1878. 

Maclay, N. Von Mikluho. Ethnological Excursions in the Ma- 
lay Peninsula. (Journal of the Straits British Royal Asiatic 
Society, No. 2, pp. 205-221.) 8vo. Singapore, 1878. 

Skinner, A. M, Geography of the Malay Peninsula. Part I. 
(Journal of the Straits British Royal Asiatic Society, No. i, 
pp. 52-62.) 8vo. Singapore, 1878. 

BuNBURY, Sir E. H. A History of Ancient Geography Among 
the Greeks and Romans, from the Earliest Ages till the Fall 
of the Roman Empire. 2 vols. Maps. 8vo. London, 1879. 

Dupuis, J. L'Ouverture du Fleuve Rouge au Commerce et les 
Evenements du Tong-Kin, 1872-73 : Journal de Voyage et 
d'Expedition. Map and portrait. 4to. Paris, 1879. 

Gordon, Robert. Report on the Irrawaddy River. Maps. Folio. 
Rangoon, 1879-80. 

Harmand, Dr. J. Rapport sur une mission en Indo-Chine, de 
Bassac a Hue (16 Avril — 14 Aout, 1877). (Archives des 
Missions Scientifiques et Litteraires (3 S.), 5, 247-281.) 
8vo. Paris, 1879. 

Horn ADA Y, A. J. Account of a Naturalist's Visit to Selangor. 
(Journal of the Straits British Royal Asiatic Society, No. 3, 
pp. 124-131.) Svo. Singapore, 1879. 



APPENDIX 363 

Peal, S. E. Note on the old Burmese Route over Patkai via 
Nongyang (viewed as the most feasible and direct route 
from India to China). (Journal of the Asiatic Society of 
Bengal, Vol. 48, pt. II, 69.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1879. 

QuATREFAGES, A. DE. Rapport sur le voyage d'exploration fait 
par le docteur Harmand dans les provinces de Mulu-Prey, 
Toule-Repan et Compong-Soa'i ; sur la rive droite du Me- 
Kong. (Archives des Missions Scientifiques et Litteraires 
(3 S.), 5, pp. 9-17- ) 8vo. Paris, 1879. 

CocHiNCHiNE FRAN9AISE. Excursions et Reconnaissances. Tome 
2 (Nos. 5, 6), 3-14 and 15 (No. 33). Maps, etc. Roy. 8vo. 
Saigon, 1880-89. 

Delaporte,, L. Voyage au Cambodge : L'Architecture Khmer. 
Maps and plates. 8vo. Paris, 1880. 

Leech, H. W. C. About Kinta. About Slim and Ber- 

nam. (Journal of the Straits British Royal Asiatic Society, 
No. 4, pp. 21-45.) 8vo. Singapore, 1880. 

Swettenham, F. a. From Perak to Slim and dovi^n the Slim 
and Bernam Rivers. (Journal of the Straits British Royal 
Asiatic Society, No. 5, pp. 5i-68a.) 8vo. Singapore, 1880. 

De la Croix, J, Errington. Some Account of the Mining Dis- 
tricts of Lov^er Perak. (Journal of the Straits British Royal 
Asiatic Society, No. 7, pp. i-io.) Map and Section. 8vo. 
Singapore, 1881. 

Peal, S. E. Report on a Visit to the Nongyang Lake, on the 
Burmese Frontier, February, 1879. (Journal of the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, Vol. 50, pt. II, i.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1881. 

Swettenham, F. a. Some Account of the Independent Native 
States of the Malay Peninsula, Part I. (Journal of the 
Straits British Royal Asiatic Society, No. 6, pp. 161-202.) 
Map. 8vo. Singapore, 1881. 

Maxwell, W. E. Journey on Foot to the Patani Frontier in 
1876. (Journal of the Straits British Royal Asiatic Society, 
No. 9, pp. 1-67.) 8vo. Singapore, 1882. 



364 APPENDIX 

Cameron, W. On the Patani. (Journal of the Straits British 
Royal Asiatic Society, No. 11, pp. 123-142.) 8vo. Singa- 
pore, 1883. 

CoLQUHOUN, A. R. Across Chryse: being the Narrative of a 
Journey of Exploration through the South China Border 
Lands from Canton to Mandalay. 2 vols. Maps and illus- 
trations. 8vo. London, 1883. 

MouRA, J. Le Royaume du Cambodge. 2 vols. Maps, plans, and 
illustrations. Large 8vo. Paris, 1883. 

Peal, S. E. Notes of a Trip up the Dihing basin to Dapha Pani, 
etc., January and February, 1882. (Journal of the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, Vol. 52, pt. II, 7.) 8vo. Calcutta, 1883. 

CoLQUHOUN, A. R., and Holt S. Hallett. Report on the Rail- 
way Connexion of Burmah and China; with Account of Ex- 
ploration-Survey, by Holt S. Hallett, accompanied by Sur- 
veys, Vocabularies, and Appendices. Maps and illustrations. 
Folio. London, 1884. 

The Voyage of John Huyghen Van Linschoten to the East 
Indies. From the Old English Translation of 1598. The 
First Book, containing his Description of the East. Edited, 
the first volume by the late A. C. Burnell, Ph.D. ; the second 
volume by Mr. P. A. Tiele. 2 vols. (Hakluyt Society's 
publications, Vols. 70 and 71.) Frontispiece. 8vo. London, 
1885. 

BouiNAis, A,, and A. Paulus. LTndo-Chine Frangaise Contem- 
poraine. Cochinchine. 2e edition. Cambodge, Tonkin, An- 
nam. 2 vols. Maps and illustrations. Large 8vo. Paris, 
1885. 

A Missionary's Journey through Laos from Bangkok to 
Ubon. Contributed by the Rev. N. J. Couvreur. (Journal 
of the Straits British Royal Asiatic Society, No. 15, pp. 103- 
117.) 8vo. Singapore, 1885. 

Colquhoun, a. R. Amongst the Shans; with upwards of fifty 



APPENDIX 365 

whole-page Illustrations, and a Historical Sketch of the 
Shans, by Holt S. Hallett : preceded by an Introduction on the 
Cradle of the Shan Race, by Terrien de Lacouperie. Map. 
8vo. London, 1885. 

Petit, E. Francis Gamier, sa Vie, ses Voyages, ses (Euvres. 
Paris, 1885. 

Scott, J. G. (Shway Yoe). France and Tonking : a Narrative 
of the Campaign of 1884 and the Occupation of Further 
India. Map and plans. 8vo. London, 1885. 

SwETTENHAM, F. A. Joumal kept during a journey across the 
Malay Peninsula. (Journal of the Straits British Royal 
Asiatic Society, No. 15, pp. 1-37.) Map. 8vo. Singapore, 
1885. 

Bryce, J. A. Burma: the Country and People. (Proceedings 
of the Royal Geographical Society (N. S.), Vol. 8, pp. 481- 
501.) Map. Large 8vo. London, 1886. 

Hallett, Holt S. Exploration Survey for a Railway Connec- 
tion between India, Siam, and China. (Proceedings of the 
Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 8 (N. S.), pp. 1-20.) Map. 
Large 8vo. London, 1886. 

Scott, J. G. (Shway Yoe). Burma as it was, as it is, and as it 
will be. Sm. 8vo. London, 1886. 

The Voyage of Franqois Pyrard of Laval to the East Indies, 
THE Maldives, the Moluccas, and Brazil. Translated into 
English from the Third French Edition of 1619, and edited, 
with Notes, by Albert Gray, assisted by H. C. P. Bell. 
(Hakluyt Society's publications, Vols. 76, yj, 80.) Vol. i. 
Map and illustrations. 8vo. London, 1887. Vol. 2, Part i. 
Illustrations. 8vo. London, 1888. Vol. 2, Part 2. Charts 
and plates. 8vo. London, 1890. 

Dew, a. T. Exploring Expedition from Selama Perak, to Pong, 
Patani. (Journal of the Straits British Royal Asiatic So- 
ciety, No. 19, pp. 105-123.) 8vo. Singapore, 1887. 



2(>S APPENDIX 

Browne, _^ieut.-Col. E. C. The Coming of the Great Queen: 
a Narrative of the Acquisition of Burma. Maps and illus- 
trations. 8vo. London, 1888. 

McCarthy, J. Siam. (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical 
Society (N. S.), Vol. 10, pp. 1 17-134.) Map. Large 8vo. 
London, 1888. 

Stringer, C. E. W. Report of a Journey to the Laos State of 
Nan, Siam. Map. Folio. London, 1888. 

CoLQUHOUN, A. R. Exploration in Southern and South-Western 
China. (R. G. S. Supplementary Papers, Vol. 2.) Maps. 
Large 8vo. London, 1889. 

Paris, C. Voyage d' Exploration de Hue en Cochinchine par la 
Route Mandarine. Maps and illustrations. 8vo. Paris, 1889. 

WooDTHORPE, CoL. R. G. Explorations on the Chindwin River, 
Upper Burma. (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical So- 
ciety (N. S.), Vol. II, pp. 197-216.) Map. Large 8vo. Lon- 
don, 1889. 

Hallett, Holt S. A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the 
Shan States. Maps and illustrations. 8vo. London, 1890. 

Keith, A. An Account of a Journey across the Malay Peninsula 
from Koh Lak to Mergui. (Journal of the Straits British 
Royal Asiatic Society, No. 24, pp. 31-41.) 8vo. Singapore, 
1891. 

Keith, A. Notes on the Siamese Provinces of Koowi, Bang- 
taphan, Pateeo and Champoon. (Journal of the Straits Brit- 
ish Royal Asiatic Society, No. 24, pp. 63-78.) Map. 8vo. 
Singapore, 1891. 

Eliott, Lt. Expeditions among the Kachin Tribes on the 
North-east Frontier of Upper Burma. Compiled from the 
Reports of Lieutenant Eliott by Gen. J. T. Walker. (Pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (N. S.), Vol. 
14, pp. 161-173.) Map. Large 8vo. London, 1892. 

Orleans, Prince H. d'. Autour du Tonkin. Maps and illus- 
trations. Svo. Paris, 1894. Around Tonkin and Siam. 



APPENDIX 367 

Translation by C. B. Pitman. Map and illustrations. 8vo. 
London, 1894. 

FouRNEREAu, L. Lc Siam Ancien, Archeologie, Epigraphie, 
Geographic. Premiere Partie. (Annales de Musee Guirnet. 
T. 27.) Plates and fac-simile maps. Sm. 4to. Paris, 1895. 

Smyth, H. W. Notes of a Journey on the Upper Mekong, Siam. 
Map and illustrations. 8vo. London [Royal Geographical So- 
ciety], 1895. 

Orleans, Prince H. d\ Du Tonkin aux Indes, Janvier, 1895 — 
Janvier, 1896. Maps and illustrations. Large 8vo. Paris, 
1898. From Tonkin to India by the Sources of the Irawadi, 
January, '95, January, '96. Translation by Hawley Bent. 
Map and illustrations. Large 8vo. London, 1898. 

Pavie, a. Mission Pavie Indo-Chine, 1879-1895. 5 vols. Maps 
and illustrations. 4to. Paris, 1898-1902. 

Smyth, H. Warington. Five Years in Siam, from 1891 to 1896. 
2 vols. Maps and illustrations. 8vo. London, 1898. 

Aymonier, E. Le Cambodge. 2 vols. Maps and illustrations. 
Sm. folio. Paris, 1900-1901. 

Dubois, Robert. Le Tonkin en 1900. Map and illustrations. 
4to. Paris, 1900. 

Lagrilliere-Beauclerc, E. a Travers ITndo-Chine, Cochin- 
chine, Cambodge, Annam, Tonkin, Laos. Map and illustra- 
tions. 8vo. Paris, 1900. 

McCarthy, J. Surveying and Exploring in Siam. Map, chart 
and illustrations. 8vo. London [Royal Geographical Society], 
1900. 

Gervais-Courtellemont, , an4 others. Empire Colonial 

de la France, LTndo-Chine, Cochinchine, Cambodge, Laos, 
Annam, Tonkin. Map and illustrations. 4to. Paris [n. d.]. 

Reinach, L. de. Le Laos. 2 vols. Maps and illustrations. 4to. 
Paris [n. d.]. 

General Reports of the Operations of the Survey of India 
Department. Annual. Folio. Calcutta. 



POLITICAL MAP 

FARTHER IH®IA 




INDEX 



Abel-Remusat, 152 

Abufeda, the work of, 21 

Abu Zaid Hassan, the work of, 19 

Acheh, English factory established 
at, 108, no 

Aeng Pass, 258 

Akiu, 258 

Alevy, 232 

Alexandria, enormous impetus to 
trade between, and the East, 5 

Amarapura, 117 

Amber mines in the Hukong Val- 
ley, 264 

Amboyna, no 

American Missions and Dr. S. R. 
House, the, 299 

Andre Furtado, no 

Angkor, 302 

the splendid buildings of, 12, 

145 
Angkor Thom, 150 et seq. 
Angkor Wat, the temple of, 147 

et seq. 
Anglo-French Mekong Commis- 
sion, 322 
Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commis- 
sion, the, 2>^2 
Angochin hills, 258 
Antonio de Faria, %7, 91 
Arakan, 258 
Arakan Pass, Jenkins's and Pem- 

berton's report on the, 259 
Argyre, the Isle of Silver, 4 
Athonison, 113 
Ava, 255 

and Burma, British attitude to- 
wards, 255 
missions to, 115 
the Court of, 255 



Ava, the domination of the King of, 
over Burma, 86 
the revolution at, 272 
to Mimbu, Pemberton's jour- 
ney from, 258 
to the Hukong Valley, 259 
Ayuthia, 300, 320 

first European visitor to, 69 

Baber, Mr. Colborne, 293 

the importance of his work, 293 
receives the Patron's medal of 
the R. G. Society, 294 

Bailey, Mr. W. W., 327 

Baker, Captain, 115 

Bakheng, Pagoda of Mount, 148 

Bangkok, 301 

and Maulmain, telegraph line 

between, 308 
overland trade with, 183 

Bang Pa Kong, 301 

Ban Le, 312 

Ban Naphao, the grave of Mouhot 
at, 211 

Bantam, the importance of, to 
England and Holland, 109 

Bassak, 174, 180 et seq. 

Bassein, 255 

Batambang, 163, 301 

Bayfield, Dr. G. T., 266 

Becher, Mr. H. M., 326, 329 

Bengal, the Gulf of, 304 

Berman River, the, 325 

Bhamo, 259, 277, 278, 289, 293, 294 
Hannay visits, 259 
the passes from, into Yun-nan, 
262 

Birch, Mr. J. W., 323 

Black Flags, the, 306 



369 



37° 



INDEX 



Black, Mr. J. S., 344 
Bomfernes, 84 
Bowers, Captain, 2TJ 
Bowring, Sir John, 119, 301 
Bozzolo, Mr., 324 
Brahmaputra, the, 290, 342 

the, up to Rima, 298 
Briffaud, M., 318 
British and Burmese Governments, 

the relations between, 296 
British attitude towards Ava and 

Burma, 255 
British East India Company, the 

first, 105, 108 
Browne, Colonel, 292 
Buchanan, Dr., 116, 255 
Buddhist nuns, 283 
Burma annexed, 296 

a systematic survey of, 320 
China Boundary Commission, 

321 
European intercourse with, 82 

et seq. 
lack of knowledge of the 

topography of, 255 
Marco Polo's references to, 82 
Burmese War, lack of knowledge 
of Burma up to, 255 
the last stages of the, 296 
Burney, Major, 118, 122, 256 
Bush, Mr., 310 

the death of, 311 

Cameron, Mr., 295, 325 

Campbell, Dr. James, 302 

Campbell, Sir Archibald, 117, 256 

Caulfield, Mr. St. George, 325 

Ceylon, first hand information of, 
obtained by Pliny, 5 
trade carried on by the na- 
tives of Taprobane (Ceylon) 
with the Seres of Northern 
China, 6 

Chantabun, 301, 302 

Charnier, Admiral, 140 

Che-pin, 238, 239 

Chersonesus Aurea, first mention 
of, 10; mentioned in Josephus's 
Antiquities of the Jews, 11 

Chevruel, Pere, 154 

Chieng Hong, 216, 335 



Chieng Hsen, 223 

Chieng Khong, 222 

Chieng Kwang, 310 

Chieng Mai, 215, 267, 301, 304, 313, 

320 
Chieng Menam, 267 
Chieng Nua, 234 
Chieng Tong, 227 

trade with, 216 
Chindwin, the, or Ningthi River, 

257 
Chinese civilisation, the, 17 
■Chin Kiang, 240 
Chip Song Panna, 232 
Chittagong, 116, 258 
Choki of Tsampaynago, 260 
Christoval de Jaques, gj, 153 
Chryse the Golden, 3, 331 
Chu Chai, 234 

Cochin-China ceded to France, 126 
Collins, Mr. D. J., 312 
Colquhoun, Mr. Archibald, 295 
Constantine Phaulkon, or Falcon, 

120 
Cooper, Mr. T. T., 290 
Cornelius Houtman, the first Dutch 

commander, 106 et seq. 
Cosmas Indicopleustes, 14 
Crawfurd, John, 118, 122, 323 
Cupet, Captain, 315 

Dabreu, Antonio, y2 

the importance of the voyage 
of, 73 
Dalboquerque, 54 et seq. 

the death of, 76 
Dalmeida, first Portuguese vice- 
roy, 52 
Daly and O'Brien, Messrs., 325 
D'Anville, 341 
Davis, Captain, 300 
de Carne, M. Louis, 144 
de Chaumont, Chevalier, 121 
Delaforte, M. Louis, 144 
de Lagree, Captain Doudart, 127, 
157 

attacked with fever at Kon- 
chang, 245 

entrance into Se-Mao, 235 

the death of, 251 

visit to Ma Ta Jen, 9 



INDEX 



371 



de Lagree-Garnier expedition, 128, 
143, 167, 211, 335 et seq. 
the achievements of the, 251 
de Malglaive, Captain, 315 
de Mazure, Mgr., Vicar Apostolic 

of Tibet, 262 
de Miranda, Antonio, exploration 

into lower Siam, 69 
Desgodins, 341 
Diaz, Bishop, 126 
Dibong, the, 319 
Diogo Lopez de Siqueira set out to 

conquer Malacca, 51 e* seq. 
Doi Intanou, 320 
Don-Deng, 174 
Duff, Mr. R. W., 327 
Dupha Gam, 259 
Dupleix, 136, 143 
Dupuis, 127, 239, 305 
Dutch East India Company , the, 

106 et seq. 
Dutch settlements in Cochin-China, 

123 
Duyshart, 201, 213 
Dwom Tulve, 270 

Eastern Frontier of India, Grant's 
report on the, 258 

Eastern world, Greek ignorance of, 2 
knowledge of, i et seq. 

East India Company, 113 

Edrisi, the work of, 21 et seq. 
the chart of, 22 

Ellerton, Mr. H. B., 328 

English, the first commercial expe- 
dition to the East, 102 

Errol Gray, Mr., 298 

Esmok or Sze-mao, 295 

European attempts to locate South- 
eastern Asia, the earliest, 4 

European intercourse with Burma, 
Siam, and with Indo-China, 82 et 
seq. 

European invasion of Asia, 34 

Fenouil, Pere, called Ko-su-to, 244 

Fernandez Pinto, 87 

Fitch, Robert, the first Englishman 

to visit Burma, 84 
Fleetwood, Edward, 114 



Friar John de Marignolli, 35, 40 et 

seq. 
Friquegnon, Captain, 315 

Galas, the, z^J 

Ganges, earliest mention of, by 
Megasthenes, 3 
earliest mention of land east of 
the, 3 
Garnier, Francis, 129, 247, 287, 305, 
334, 343 
description of Mouhot's grave, 

211 
Royal Geographical medal given 

to, 250 
seized Hanoi citadel, 306 
the death of, 306 
tribute to the French mission- 
aries, Protteau and Fenouil, 
244 
tribute to the Khmers, 166 
work done by, 2 
Gamier-de Lagree expedition. Vide 

under de Lagree 
Caspar de Cruz, 84, 97 
Gasparo Balbi, 84 
Gia Long, King of Cochin-China, 

Annam, and Tongking, 125 
Giles, Captain R. A., 325 
Gill, Captain W. J., 295 
Gordon, Mr. Robert, 289 
Grant Allen, Major, 274 
Grant, Captain, 258 
Greek ignorance of the Eastern 

world, 2 
Griffiths, 266 

Grosvenor, the Hon. T., 293 
Grotius's Mare Liberum, 81 
Gunong Tahan, 326 

the ascent of, 329 
Gyne River, Richardson and Mc- 
Leod's journey up the, 270 

Haiphong, 307 

Hamilton's account of the East 

Indies, 121 
Hang Tuah, 161 
Han-Kau, 253, 291 
Hannay, Captain S. F., 259, 262 
achievement, 265 



372 



INDEX 



Hanoi, 306, 307 

citadel seized by Garnier, 306 
Harmand, M., 313, 316 
Harmand's journeys, 316 
Haw, the suppression of the, 313 

et seq. 
Heathcote, Lieutenant, 274 
Hecataeus of Miletus, first mention 

of India by, 3 
Hia-Kuan, 248 
Hiang-kuan, 250 

Hieronymo da Santa Stephano, 83 
Higginson, Nathaniel, 114 
Hindu influence, 164 
Hippalus, the voyages of, 5 

showed the Arabs and Greeks 
the way across the Indian 
Ocean, 15 
the southwest monsoon called 
after, 5 
Hong-pu-so, 246 
Ho-Nhi, the, 2Z7 
Hotha route to Burma, the, 289 
Ho-ti-Kiang, 238 
House, Dr. S. R., and the American 

Missions, 299 
Hui-lu-Chu, 246 
Hukong Valley, the, 264 

the position of, determined, 
265 



Ibn Batuta, 34 

the travels of, 38 et seq. 
India, the direct sea-route to, 5 
first mention of, by Hecataeus of 

Miletus and Megasthenes, 3 
opening of the direct sea-route, 5 
India-Ocean route discovered by 

Hippalus, 15 
Indo-China, Dutch and English set- 
tlements in, 123 
European intercourse with, 82 

et seq. 
Pinto's verdict upon, 97 
the French map of, 317 
Indo-Chinese mountain system, the, 

342 et seq. 
Irawadi, 258, 262, 266, 319, 341 
above Mandalay, 2yy 
Flotilla Company, 296 



Irawadi, supposed source of the, 

289 
the lower, 289 
the problem of the source of 

the, 297 
the valley of the, above Ava, 

259 
the western branch of the, 297 



Java, Odoric's description of, 36 

Ibn Batuta's description of, 39 
J#lai, the, 327 
Jenkins, Captain, and Pemberton's 

report on the Arakan Pass, 259 
Joubert, M. Eugene, 144 



Ka-du-gyi, 271 

Kakhyen tribesmen, the, 2yj 

Kakhyens, 261 

Kala Naga, 258 

Kalproth, 341 

Kambodia, 162 

M. Harmand's explorations in, 
314 
Kampangpet, 308 
Kampti Shan country, the, 297 
Kanburi, 304 
Kan-chu-tse, 251 
Karin population of the Pegu 

Yoma range, 276 
Karins, 267 

McLeod's account of, 270 

the country of the Red, 271 
Katha, 261, 263 
Kelantan, 324, 328 

River, the, 327 
Kendat, 258 
Khas Denong, 194 
Khas Khos, 226 
Khas Kuis, 226 
Khmer ruins at Angkor, 97 
Khmers of Kambodia, the archi- 
tecture of, 18 
Khmers, Garnier's tribute to the, 
166 

the origin of, 162 et seq. 
Khon Falls, the, 172 
Kiang-Chuan, the lake of, 240 
King, Mr. D. O., 301 



INDEX 



373 



Kink-dwen, 260 

Kin-sha-Kiang, the, 246, 295 

Kiu-Kiang, the, 319 

Kodau, or "beg-pardon day," 256 

Koki villages, the, 258 

Kompang Soai, 316 

Kon-Chang, de Lagree attacked 
with fever at, 245 

Korat, 320 

overland trade with, 183 
the great plateau near, 345 

Kota Lama, 324 

Kra canal scheme, the, 276 

Kra, the isthmus of, 275, 344 

Kuala Tembeling, 325 

Kuang-tia-pin, 250 

Kudu, 2T2 

Kui-nhon, 307 

Kuitze, the insurgent Muham- 
madans, 236 

Kungtun, 261 

Kywundo, the island of, 261 



Labong, or Lampun, 268 

Lakon, 269 

Lampun, or Labun, 304 

Lamung, zdd 

Lancaster and Raymond, command 

first English expedition to Asia, 

102 et seq. 
Lan-tsang, the valley of the, 290 
Lao Papa, de Lagree's visit to, 244 

a Muhammadan Haji, 242 
Laos States, 310 
Laotine inhabitants of the reaches 

of the Mekong, 222 
Laotines, the, 175 
Leang Ta Jen, 239, 243 
Lebir River, the, 327 
Lefevre, Dr., 317 
Lefevre-Pontalis, M., 317 
Leguilcher, Pere, 247 
Lepper, 342 

Leria, Giovanni Maria, 207 
Lesley, Captain James, 114 
Le Vay, Ensign, 334 
Lignite found at Kendat, 258 
Lin-ngan, 239 
Lis-hi-ta-hi, 280, 284 
Lister, Ensign, 115 



Lister, the Hon. Martin, 325 
Li-tang Ho, 246 

the valley of the, 245 
Locac, Polo's description of, 27 

Colonel Yule's identification of, 
27 
Logan, 323 
Lohit, the, 319 
Lopburi, 300 
Louvet, 97 

Low, Sir Hugh, 309, 323 
Luang Prabang, 203, 211, 253, 301 
Lu, Pere, 246 



Macgregor, Major C. R., 297 

Ma-chang, 251 

Madres de Dios, the importance of 

the capture of the, 105 
Magellan, 79, 82 
Maha Sai, 232 

Malacca, Dalboquerqtie's expedition 
to conquer, 54 et seq. 

conquest of, by the Dutch, iii 

direct trade of, with Portugal, 
97 

first battle and conquest of, 65 

first government by Portugal, 
68 
Malay Peninsula, the, 323 

the survey of the, 328 
Manipur, routes from, into Burma 

territory, 258 
Manipur to Kendat, 258 
Manoel Falcao, 87 
Manwyne, 278 
Marco Polo, 294 

the Book of Messer, 274 

the journey of, in the East, 24 
et seq. 
Mare Liberum by Grotius, 81 
Margary, Mr. A. R., 291 

the murder of, 292 
Marinus of Tyre, 331 

the geographical knowledge of, 
7 et seq. 
Martin Affonso de Castro, no 
Masudi, the work of, 21 et seq. 

the chart of, 22 
Matelief, no et seq. 
Ma Tien, or Ma Ta Jen, 242 



374 



INDEX 



Maukadau, 257 
Maulmain, 303 

to Mandalay, the first Euro- 
pean to journey from, 2T2> 
Mauphoo, 283 
Maxwell, Sir William, 325 
Mazeran, Ensign, 335 
McCarthy, Mr., 294, 305, 308, 312 
McCarthy's, Mr. J., map of Siam, 

214 
McCarthy's surveys, 320 
McLeod, Major General, 214, 233, 

253, 269, 270 
Megasthenes, earliest mention of 

the Ganges by, 3 
Me Gnau, the valley of the, zd"] 
Meingkhwon, 264 
Mein-lung-hi, 267 
Meklong, the, 299, 304 
Mekong, 333 et seq. 

Laotine inhabitants of the 

reaches of the, 222 
Louvet visited the delta of the, 

97 

McLeod's estimate of the, 217 
Prince Henri of Orleans, ex- 
plorations on the, 317 
the explorers of the, 334 et seq. 
the mouth of the, 192 
the tributaries of the, 339 
the valleys of the Salwin and 
the, 294 
Mekong Commission, Sir J. G. 

Scott's, 317 
Menam, the, 299, 340 
Me-nam-noi, 304 
Mendez Pinto, 83, 88 et seq. 
Me-ping River, the, 267, 301 
Mikioucho-Maclay, Baron, 326 
Min-kin, the, 250 

Mink Meng, King of Annam, 125 
Mogaung, the terminus of the rail- 
way from Katha, 263 
Mogaung River, the, 263 
Moluccas, the, or Spice Islands, 78, 
80 
Dutch and English trade with, 

109 
Portuguese direct trade with, 79 
Mo-mein, 286 
Momein, 293 



Monai, 272 

Mong-ku, 251 

Mouhot, Henri, 149, 302, 345 

death of, 211 

expedition of, 202, 208 et seq. 
Mountain system between Tenas- 

serim and Siam, 303 
Muhammadan power, the rise of, 
16, 18 

rebellion, the end of the, 290 
Muong Amnat, the cultivation of 

silk-worms at, 192 
Muong Haut or Muong Hal, 267 
Muong Kabin, 301 
Muong Kao, 312 
Muong Lim, 224 
Muong Ngan, 311 
Muong Pang,- 234 
Muong Pre, 320 
Muong Son, 312 
Muong Teng, 313 
Muong Yong, 227 
Mu tsen, 225 
Mynela, 282 
Mynetee, 285 
Mytho, the taking of, 140 

Nakou Sawan, 308 

Nam Chan, 311 

Nam Ha, 232 

Nam Hu, 312 

Nam-Kin, the, 298 

Nam Tang, 310 

Nam Yang, 233 

Nam Yom, the, 320 

Nam Yong, 263 

Nam Yot, 234 

Nam Yun, 263 

Nan, 312 

Nantin, 285 

Neale, Frederick Arthur, 300 

Neaung Shewai, 273 

Needham, Mr. J. F., 298 

Negri Sembilan, 327 

Neiss, M., 311 

Newbolt, 323 

Ngatgyi, the, or spirits of the 

Three Brother Tsanhuas, 264 
Ngwai Tung, 276 
Nicolo de Conti, first white man to 

land in Pegu, 82 



INDEX 



375 



Nicolo de Conti, his travels, 82 ct 

seq. 
Nicolon, Lieutenant, 315 
Ningthi, the, or Chindwin River, 257 
Nong Kai, 198 
Nung Belai, 276 

Odoric of Fordone^ 34 et seq. 

Onco, the temple of, 154 

Ophir, ancient Kambodia held to be, 

by Pavie, 12, 13 
O'Riley, Mr. Edward, 276 
Orleans, Prince Henri of, 298, 317 

et seq. 



Pachum^ 311 
Pahang, 323 

Pahom Pole, a trigonometrical sta- 
tion on, 320 
Pa-i, the, 238 
Pak-Lai, 311 
Pak-nam Po, 311 
Pakprian, 300 

Pallegoix, Bishop, 299, 300 
Panglong, 276 

Pan thai authorities, the, 279 
Panthays, the, 283 
Pa-pien, 237 
Parkes, Sir Harry, 299 
Pavie, M. Auguste, 313, 334 

contends that ancient Kambodia 
is Ophir, 12 
Pedro de Acufia, no 
Pedro de Faria, 90 
Pegu, European visitors to, 83 et 
seq. 

the destruction of, 85 
Pegu Yoma, 276 
Pe-ma Ho, 247 
Pemberton, 258 
Penang, the East India Company's 

settlement at, 112 
Penti, the, 250 
Perak, the State of, 309 

the Sultan of, 323 
Fere Fenouil, called Ko-su-to, 244 
Pere, George La Mothe, 98 
Pere Leguilcher, 248 
Fere Lu, 246 
Pere Protteau, 241, 244 



Pere Tachard and Pere Choisi, 121 
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, the, 

4. 6 
Perre, M. Joseph, 132 
Persian sea-power, the growth of, 

15 
Pe-se, 295 
Fetani, 309, 328 
Feu Nom, 196 

Phayre, Major Arthur, 274, 283 
Fhilastre, M., 307 
Philip de Brito, 85 
Phu Tai, the, 194 
Fhwongs, 262 
Pickled tea, 260 
Figneau de Behaine, 125 
Fin-Chuan, 247 

Pinto's verdict upon Indo-China, 97 
Pliny's first hand information of 

Ceylon, 5 
Pnom-Brashe, the pagoda of, 167 
Pnom Penh, 188, 302 

Portuguese trading-post at, 99 
Pomponius Mela, first hint of land 
east of the Ganges, 3 
statements as to the Asiatic 
continent, 4 
Ponlyne, the chief of, 278 
Ponsee, 284 
Fon-si, 281 

Ponsot, Mgr., the Bishop of Yun- 
nan, 252 
Pope Alexander VI, the Bull of, 

80 
Portugal and the wealth of Asia, 

48 
Portuguese colonisation of Asia, 48 
et seq. 
end of exploration in Southern 

Asia, 99 
their explorations, 74 et seq. 
their lawlessness, 56 
viceroy, first, 52 
Protteau, Fere, 241, 244 
Prun, 290 
Ptolemy, 331 
Fu Fai Yai, 312 
Fu-ku Kiang, 237 
Pulau Kondor, 92, 123 
Fu-pio, 238 
Pu-ul-fu, 237 



376 



INDEX 



Raffles, Sir Stafford, 112 

Raheng, 304, 308 

Raman, 309 

Rangoon, 275, 283 

Red Karins, 86 

Red River, the, 333 

Rennell, Major, 341 

Rennie, Captain, 274 

Reveillere, Captain, 334 

Ribadeneyra, 154 

Richardson, Dr., 214, 258, 267, 303, 

309 
Rima, 298 

the Tibetan post, 290 
"River of Golden Sand," the Kin- 

sha-kiang, 295 
Riviere, Captain, 316 
Riobaglia, Lieutenant, 334 
Ross, Captain David, 258 
Rossmussen, Lieutenant, 312 
Roux, M., 318 



Saba, as described by Friar John, 
identified as Sabah in North 
Borneo, 41 

Sadiya, 290 

Saigon, 139, 306 

St. Martin, M. Vivien, 338 

Sal win River, the, 267, 269, 318 
and its tributaries, 340 
the valleys of the Mekong and 
the, 294 

Sampeng, 308 

Samuel, Thomas, 113 

Samuel, the unhappy trader, 268 

Sanda, 280, 281 

Saraburi, 309 

Sanpo River of Tibet, the, 298 

Schomburg, Sir Robert, F.R.S., 303, 
304 

Scott, Sir James, 298, 321 

Sea-route to China, the first de- 
tailed account of the, 18 

Se-Kong, the, 170, 178 et seq. 

Selangor, 323 

Se-Mao, 235 

Se-Mun, the, 182, 184, 316 

Sena of Chieng Hong, the, 231 

Sen-o-kai, 251 

Serai, 292 



Seres of Northern China, trade 

with Ceylon, 6 
Serpentine mines, the, 265 
Shanghai into Burma, 291 
Shan States, the, 220 et seq. 

a systematic survey of the, 
321 
Shans of the Chinese frontier, the, 

282 
Shuedung Gyi range, the, 264 
Shuen Tung, 260 
Shun-ning, 294 
Shwebo, 257 

Siam and Burma, the boundary be- 
tween, 320 
Siam, Dutch intercourse with, 118 
earliest .exploration of, by 

white men, 69 
European intercourse with, 82 

et seq. 
preparations for making a map 

of, 308 
the Portuguese relations with, 

87 
the scientific mapping and ex- 
ploration of, 305 
topographical and statistical in- 
formation of, 300 

Siamreap, 163, 314 

Silk-worms, the cultivation of, at 
Muong Amnat, 192 

Simon, Lieutenant, 334 

Singapore ceded to England, 112 

Singfos, 259, 264 

Sirian, 114 

Skeat expedition, the, 328 

Sladen, Captain, 276 et seq. 

Smiles, Mr., 321 

Sombor, the rapids of the, 168 

Song-Bo, 237 

Song-ka, 334 

Song-koi, the, 305 

Song-Ma, the, 333 

Spice Islands, the, or the Moluc- 
cas, 78 

Sprye, 341 

Stung-Treng, 172 

Sue, the, 194 

Sumatra, or "Java the Less," 
Polo's description of, 28 et 
seq. 



INDEX 



377 



Sumatra, called Lamori by Odoric, 35 

Sungei Ujong, 323 

Supanburi, 300 

Swettenham, Sir Frank, 325 

Symes, Captain Michael, 116, 225 

Szechenyi, Count Bela, 295 

Sze-mao, or Esmok, 295 

Tachin, the, 300 

Tagaung, the old fort of, 260 

Myu, 260 
Ta-haw, 284 
Tai-lang, 237, 238 
Tai-phu, 24s 
Tak-Khoa, 315 
Ta-li, 248 
Ta-li-fu, 242, 243, 249, 2.^^ 

to Teng-yue, the route from, 
293 
Tang-Ho, the, 335 
Tanun, 312 
Ta-ping, the, 262 

Sladen's reception at, 280 
Tapoh, 263 
Tavoi, 304 
Telom, the, 325 
Tenasserim, 344 
Teng-yue, the route from Ta-li-fu 

to, 293 
Ternate, no 
Thai Binh, the, 307 
Thama Tsai Pidok, 223 
Thang dynasty, the, 163 
Thaphan Beng, 262 
The-Tong, 250 
Thibaw, 296 

Thomassin, Lieutenant, 317 
Thong-wet-shein, 286 
Thorel, M., 144 
Tibet, the lakes of, 343 
Tisang, the valley of the, 298 
Tong Bao, the temple of, 196 
Tong-Chuan, 245 
Tong-hai, 239 
Tongking, 127 

the gulf of, 294 
Tong Kuan, 237 
Tonle-Repu, 316 

Tonle Sap, the lake of, 97, 302, 344 
Townley, Mr. E., 328 
Treaty of Peking, 139 



Treaty of Vienna, 112 
Tremenheere, Captain G. B., 275, 

309 
Trengganu, 324 

Valley, the map of the, 327 
Tsampaynago, 260 
Tsangpo, the, 262 
Tsarony, 319 
Tshenbo, 263 
Tsin-chui-ho, 251 
Tsin-ning, 240 
Tuan-kuan, 308 
Tuli-Repu, 173 
Tung-Chieng-Kam, 312 
Tung-Kao, 239 
Tu-tui-tze, 250 
Tu-uan-si, 242, 243 
Tzan-hi-pa, 246 

Ubon, 185 
Udong, 302 
Uei-yuan, 237 
Utarit, 320 

Van der Hagen, no 

Van Dieman, 123 

Van Linschoten, Jan Huygen, 98, 

105 
Van Nek, no 
Van Wusthof, Gerard, 123, 204 et 

seq. 
Vasco de Gama, European invasion 
of Asia begun by, 34 
doubling the Cape, 45 et seq. 
Vien Chan, 198, 206, 2^2 

Wahab, Mr. Charles, 295 
Waterstradt, Mr., 329 
Wat Phu, 180 

West River of Canton, the, 295 
White, Captain, 258 
Wilcox's explorations, 266, 342 
Williams, Captain, 280 
Wise, Mr. D. H., 327 
Woods, Lieutenant, 116, 255 
Woodthorpe, Colonel R. G., 297 
World, the, according to Masudi 
and Edrisi, 22 

Yam Byne, 267 

Yandabu, the peace of, 117, 256 



378 



INDEX 



Yang-tse, the valley of the, 251 
Yebuk Yua, 261 
Yedan, 260 
Yuan-kiang, 238 

Yule, Colonel (afterwards Colonel 
Sir Henry), 225, 262, 274, 295, 341 



Yun-nan, 220, 232, 240 
and the Gulf of 

trade-route, 305 
the lakes of, 343 

ZiMi River, the, 303 



Tongking 



31^77-2 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent; Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: iVlarcIn 2003 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



